Bleach: Raging Spirits
by Siegfried86
Summary: When 2 human souls are reborn as a Hollow and a Shinigami and wake up without their memory, both embark on a journey full of adventure, joy, hardship, sadness and loss to rediscover who they were, so that they can decide who they want to be. (Story acts as sequel to Bleach with OC's as main chars, rated M for some violence, gore, mature themes, and heavy language use throughout)
1. Prologue

**Alright, so just to warn you before hand, this story acts as a full on sequel to the original Bleach, (SPOILER WARNING FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T FINISHED THE MANGA) and a major part of it is taking place during the ten years time skip of the last chapter of Bleach. I implore you to finish Bleach first before starting with this, seeing as it's, you know... a sequel.**

**This story does not revolve around Ichigo or the orignial cast anymore, although they will pop up here and there while encountering the protagonists. This piece of fiction might be a bit weird, both in terms of quality of the actual writing itself and the story. That's because this is an experiment of mine and also the first book I've ever written, so here's your warning.**

**Like I said, Ichigo and the gang are no longer the focus here and my OC's will fill he role of the protagonists instead. As a result, this story features a new roster of characters. This is also not a self insert fanfic where the MC's are somehow childhood friends or lost relatives of any of the existing characters. Instead I'm trying to create an entirely new narrative with new themes and ideas.**

**I see this trope everywhere; a long lost relative or friend or a secret sibling of one of the main/side characters shows up and takes center stage in an AU of the original story. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Writers are allowed to do whatever they want and I'm not trying to shit on anyone's work or criticize it. If done well, this can lead to pretty good and interesting stories.**

**My problem with this trope is extremely PERSONAL and comes from the fact that I'd like to see more original stories set in these universes that are disconnected from the overall plot of the original story. If I wanna see that or read it, I'll just go ahead and read the manga or watch the anime. Again, this opinion is very SUBJECTIVE and I'm NOT trying to downgrade the works of other artists. I just have incredibly specific tastes and wanted something different for once (so I did it myself).**

**As a result, this story reflects all of that and caters to my own incredibly precise special snowflake demands:**

**\- New characters that have limited to no connection to the original cast**

**\- A new story and plot that we haven't seen yet in Bleach**

**\- New themes and ideas, some of which build on previous ones featured in the original**

**The story is a bit smaller in scale and is going to be rather personal most of the time. The original Bleach was always more about saving the world than about exploring the characters (even if they were still fairly well developed, I'm just saying that it was not always the focus). Bleach was pretty plot driven most of the time, so I've decided to do it very differently in my sequel story, which is a lot more character driven. Of course there's going to be plot at some points and it's not always going to be about the characters themselves.**

**What I am saying is that I'm trying to use the plot, story and world as a vehicle to explore these new characters to the best of my abilities and bring something to the table we haven't seen before in the Bleach universe**

**I'm also using a 3-way split narrative, meaning that most of the time, the story is experienced through the view of 3 different characters, whose own personal journeys are not interconnected for a good part of the story. I'm also using old elements from the original and try to build on them in new and interesting ways. Or at least what I find to be interesting.**

**If any of that has gotten you curious, go ahead and give it a shot, hopefully you'll like it. If not, well then that's too bad and I'm sorry.**

**P.S. Oh by the way; this thing is riddled with heavy language use, at times graphic violence (not the sexual kind, don't worry) and dark subject matter. Everybody drops F-bombs, sometimes people die in pretty gruesome fashion like it's going out of style and some arguably dark topics come up in regards to the characters backstories and issues, so you know; have fun with that.**

**Edit: Obviously, I don't own Bleach, Tite Kubo does. All canon Bleach material (world, characters etc.) belongs to him and the studios. I simply own the OCs and original concepts I introduce into the world of Bleach through this fanfic. I'm writng this fic for entertainment purposes and constructive criticism is encouraged. With all that being said, thank you for your time.**

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**Bleach: Raging Spirits**

Prologue:

Ichigo was walking down the streets of Karakura Town somewhat irritated. It was the middle of the night and he had received a call from Urahara Kisuke about an hour ago. From the sounds of it, the matter was important, although he wasn`t able to get any details on the phone, Urahara insisted to talk about it in person.

He was fortunate enough to hear the phone ringing just after it started, or it might have woken up his son, Kazui. Luckily he only had to wake up his wife, to tell her that he would be gone for a few hours and that she didn`t need to worry about it. After giving her a kiss, Orohime had fallen back asleep quickly, and Ichigo had been on his way.

It had been 10 years since he had, together with his friends and the joined efforts of the entire soul society, defeated Yhwach in the Soul King`s palace. Yhwach. The first quincy, most powerfull foe they had ever faced. After he had absorbed the Soul King, all hope had seemed lost, but somehow, may it have been because they just kept fighting on, may it have been because Yhwach`s powers weren`t as complete as he had led them all and himself to believe, may it have simply been a flicker of fate, or all of the above, they manged to defeat him and put an end to his plans, which where to destroy the cycle of life, to prevent death from being a part of it, to fuse all the worlds, human, hueco mundo, soul society and all that was in between into a twisted state of being that maybe would have been a world without fear and death, but also a world completely devoid of any life what so ever.

After Yhwach had been defeated, the powers he had stolen from Ichigo automatically returned to him. Ichigo had gladly wellcomed his powers back, after finally having accepted powers Yhwach had taken form the Soul King latched themselves onto Sousuke Aizen, who had surprisingly fought alongside Ichigo in the final clash against Yhwach, making him the new Soul King and pillar of stability for all the existing worlds. At first it was concerning that Aizen had received those powers, as that had been his original goal all along: to slay the Soul King, take his powers, become the perfect being and destroy the world in order to rebuild it as he saw fit.

To everyone`s surprise and relief however, the short amount of time of his imprisonement and the fact that the Hougyoku had taken away a good portion of his own strength after his defeat at Ichigo`s hands, thereby fullfilling his hearts deepest wish to not be the strongest, to actually be weak, had changed his perspective. Through those experiences he had learned about himself and because of that did not perceive his original goal anymore.

Instead, he reestablished the old order and rules of reality, and therefor completely negating the changes Yhwach had made. He was now sitting on the throne as the new Soul King, and was probably spending his time thinking about the world and himself.

It was a wonderfully quiet night, the skies were clear, no lost spirits wandering around, trying to make peace with their death and trying to move on and no hollows to be seen or felt far and wide. It wasn`t particularly cold, but not to warm either. Almost none of the Houses in Karakura Town had any light in them since most of it`s inhabitans were already asleep and the ones that were lit up, were probably more from a computer or television than because of a lamp.

Ichigo took his sweet time to walk down the road that was lit up with orange streetlights. The Kurosaki clinic would not be required to open this late in the night, for the last few months had been rather quiet, the crime rate was on a low as well as supernatural activity, which is why he, the head doctor of the clinic didn`t need to be there, because the clinic would not open until 7 o`clock in the A.M. and an emergency was highly unlikely.

The Urahara Shop hadn`t changed in the last 10 years, still looking the same as it allways did. Ichigo knocked on the door, only to be greeted by Tessai, Urahara`s shop assisstent.

"Good evening, Kurosaki-san", he greeted politely.

"Good evening, Tessai-san", Ichigo replied with the same tone.

He entered, and followed Tessai to the living room-section of the shop where he saw Urahara Kisuke in the middle of preparing some tea.

"Ah, good evening Kurosaki-san, would you like some tea?", he said in his usual cheerful manner, altough he looked somewhat exhausted.

"Yeah, more like good night", Ichigo snapped back. "Couldn`t this have waited until sometime in the day, you know, when people are awake and don`t need to sleep?". He normally wasn`t that rude, but he was still somewhat groggy from getting up in the middle of the night. Nonetheless, he thankfully accepted the offer and sat down at the table, waiting for Urahara to serve the flavored liquid. After having done so, he took a seat himself, across from Ichigo, next to Tessai.

"Unfortunately not, or i would not have called you this late" he replied in a more serious tone. "Kurosaki-san, i wanted to tell you this in person." He took a few seconds until he continued. "Not even an hour i finished creating a special Gigai for an Arrancar".

Urahara waited a few moments for Ichigo`s reply, Ichigo however had trouble to process the information he was just presented with, so all he could say was: "Come again?".

"Yes, it is somwhat hard to comprehend isn`t it?" Urahara took a good sip from his teacup before he continued. "Allow me to explain. One week ago an Arrancar suddenly showed up in front of my place, completely out of nowhere. He had bypassed all my defense and sensor mechanisms that i had set up, but he didn`t seem hostile at all. He simply entered my Shop walked up to me and asked for a Body that allowed him to live as a human again."

"And you just gave it to him?!", Ichigo said, shocked from what he had just heard. An Arrancar with a Gigai. A being capable of destroying the entire Town, if not more. And now it was completely covert, inserting itself into normal human society, probably waiting for it`s time to strike.

"Why? Why would you even believe his claims, much less give him a body that makes him absolutely inextinguishable from normal human beings?"

"Because he really meant it". Urahara answered the question calmly, as if they were talking about the weather. "You see, he wasn`t just devoid of any hostility, he seemed desperate to live as a human again. Even when i at first reacted the same way you did just now and denying his requests on the spot, he did not make any attempts to threaten me, Tessai or any other person living in the town. He simply started pleading with me, negotiating, saying that he was even ready to give up his powers in order to get what he wanted. During the entire conversation he never displayed any murderous intent, or any ill intentions towards me or anyone else. It was quite confusing, really".

Ichigo slowly recovered from his shock, regaining his calm again. "So what do you 1want me to do with this situation? I am assuming you don`t want me to kill him, seeing as you could have done that yourself and just went through the trouble of creating a Gigai for him", he concluded.

"I would not be so sure about that", Urahara retorted lost in thought. "I couldn`t quite get a grasp on his full power, but i`m not so sure if i could have won had it come to a fight between us. But you are right of course", he continued more focused again. "I do not wish for you to kill him. I simply request you to help me deal with him, should he deviate from our little arrangement. Naturally i took precautions. I built in a little fail save, should he go on a rampage. It won`t kill him, but it will severly weaken him. He also has a transmitter build into his Gigai, which always tells me where he is in the humanworld."

Ichigo was comforted by these additional informations. Of course Urahara would not just mindlessly give a Gigai to an Arrancar without doubts or second thoughts. That still left Ichigo with his first question unanswered.

"Why did you do it?", he asked, way more calm this time.

Urahara smiled mysterously. "Call it an experiment", he said. "I see a potential ally in him, should he really mean what he said. He could be of great use in the future, if there still are remnants of Aizen`s little "cult" from almost eleven and a half years ago that wants revenge. Would it not be for you and your power as an absolute fail save, i would not have done it. But should the worst case scenario come to place, you can put an end to it promptly."

He stood up from the table and went into another room, only to come back shortly after in ordert to hand Ichigo a document file.

"Here is everything that i was able to gather on him. Name, height, weight, hair color and so forth. You are of course entirely allowed to refuse, it is up to you. There are other options that would be just as fitting for the part, but you are always closest to the scene, since he seemed like he wanted to stick around. As i said this is simply a request and nothing else. And should you refuse, take this Dossier with you anyway, so that you are at least informed", he said while handing the papers to Ichigo.

He sighed, took the papers and replied slightly annoyed: "Well, even though you *say* i can decline, i don`t really have a choice here, do i. I`ll try to help you as good as i can with this. Anything else i should know?", he asked while finishing his tea and getting up.

"No, that would be all", Urahara answered back in his usual cheerful tone. "Good night, Kurosaki-san."

"Yeah, thanks. You too." He went back through the shop put his shoes on and went outside, after he also wished a good night to Tessai.

After closing the door behind himself he took a deep breath. "Well, explaining this to the gang is gonna be very fun", he snorted to himself sarcastically and went on his way home.

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**Author`s notes:**

If you want to give your opinion, PM me or better yet, review it. I`ll always welcome constructive criticism.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Eat

_4 years after the defeat of Yhwach_

_He_ woke up. The first thought that crossed his mind was disorientation. _He_ didn`t know where _he_ was. The only _he _could see, was a seemingly endless desert, with a blue, clouded sky and a few occasional trees that where already half dead. But nothing else. No living creature, no buildings around. Nothing was there in this infinite mass of sand. Nothing, except him.

_He _didn`t know who _he _was. There where no memories that _he_ was able to recall prior to when _he _opened his eyes. Nothing. Everything was empty, slated clean. _He_ couldn`t even remember his name.

_He _only vaguely knew what _he_ was. A monster. An abomination. Maybe both. There was no need to look at himself, _he _could tell, _he _was feeling it. His body was weirdly shaped, his arms slender as were his legs and his upper body. His hands differed from each other. His left was fairly normal, save for the fact that it was covered in hardened scales up to his ellbow. His right hand however was far from ordinary. It was also covered in scales, although not as thick as his left arm. His fingers were longer than the ones on his left, and ended in long, sharp claws. And then there was something completely off, something literally **on** his face. A mask. It was stuck to his face, moved when he moved his mouth and gave him a grotesk look. And save for his claws and scales, which where of a red tone, and his mask, which was purely white, his entire body was black.

And then there was the strange sensation of something missing in his chest. He checked and realized that there was indeed something amiss, because there was a hole in his chest. However, _he _did not feel pain. _He_ did feel something, but not pain. No, _he_ felt hunger. An inextinguishable, evergrowing feeling that was already nagging at the back of his head.

_Eat._

It was like a driving force inside him, which made out his core existence.

_**Eat.**_

It was like a voice inside his head, a voice that was getting louder and more dominant by the second until he could no longer think straight and just follow that one instinct.

_**EAT.**_

_He _gave in. _He _took a step. And another one. And another one. He didn`t know in which direction _he_ should go, but he somehow knew that it didn`t matter. His instinct told him, that there was food in every direction, that eventually, _he _would find it and devour it, in the hopes that it would silence the voice in his head for at least a bit.

After what seemed to him like an eternity, _he_ finally reached something. Something alive, _he_ could sense it. _He_ ran, like his life depended on it.

When _he_ reached his destination, _he_ stopped for a moment. What he saw, wasn`t like him. It was smaller, looked more vulnerable and was not running like him. It was cowering in fear on the sand and was crying. As soon as it noticed him, it looked around, terrified, and eventually, locked eyes with him. And before it could say anything, _he _had already taken action.

_He _had practically fallen on his victim and started devouring it. He sunk his teeth into it`s body, ripped it apart, drank it`s blood and left nothing, not even the bones.

And for a few moments, the back of his head became quiet.

Only to begin to talk again, slowly, almost not noticeable, but already growing in volume and dominance again. This time _he_ didn`t even wait for it to become unbearably loud.

_He _already knew what _he_ had to do.

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**Author`s notes:**

I know, i know, pretty short but this is only the beginning. The chapters will get longer.

If you have your own opinion, PM me or, better yet, Review it. I`ll always welcome constructive criticism.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Daily training

Kiara tried to block the incoming blow, but it was already to late and she was thrown on the floor of the dojo.

"Again", resounded the stern voice her teacher.

"You know, i would appreciate it if you`d actually try to teach me more than just how to get back up again after having taken a beating", the girl complained.

The response she got to that little quip made her wish she would have kept her mouth shut.

"Oho?", her teacher hummed amused. "If you`ve got enough energy left to be disrespectful, i reckon we can do at least 3 or 4 more rounds." A devious smile found it`s way on his face as he uttered that sentence.

Kiara grunted in pain as she got back up on her feet and took fighting stance once more. She had bruises all over her body, mostly on her arms and legs but also a nasty fresh one on her back that really started to hurt. There were no broken bones as far as she could tell, which was a miracle, really. In the first few training sessions she had with her teacher she had carried away 1 broken arm and at least half dozen fractures all spread out over her entire body. They did not stop training until she had broken the other arm, which rendered her incapable of wielding a sword. She then was delivered to the 4th division of the gotei 13 where she spent a wonderful week in heaven to recover, only to get thrown right back into the hell that was the 11th division. There, she was once more exposed to the "training sessions" that her teacher gave her every day.

Said training consisted of him throwing her a wooden sword, yelling at her "defend yourself" and then attacking her full force.

She had gotten better at it, at least a lot better than she was when they started training, but still far from good enough to not walk or move in a funny way because of some very painful injuries after calling it a day.

As soon as she had taken her position, her teacher took his own and another sparring fight began. They started slowly, circling each other and looking for a weakness in the stances of their opponents. After a few moments her teacher took a step towards her and attacked with a fast swing from above, which she tried to block and redirect to the floor by holding her wooden blade in an aslant angle. At first it seemed to have worked but then her opponent grabbed her right wrist with one hand and reversed the grip on his sword so that he could ram the handle into her stomach.

She however had seen that coming and moved her left hand on the handle of his sword in order to prevent it from making painful contact with her digestive region. She then launched herself up in mid-air using the strong grip of his left arm and strength in his right arm, with which he was holding the sword, as support to get her feet in front of his face and deliver a fatal hit to his head.

Unfortunately for her, he reacted quicker than she could anticipate his actions and moved his head out of the way before she could land a hit. With him now practically holding her above the ground, she was at his non-existent mercy once again. She didn`t have to wait for long for a new wave of pain to coarse through her body that was caused by her teacher who slammed her back first on the floor.

"Look kiddo, i`d teach you more, but as it stands now, you wouldn`t even survive in a fight against an unarmed opponent, much less an armed one. And so long as that`s the case", he continued smiling as he let go of her arms and allowed her to take a few moments to catch her breath again "we will continue this training until you can actually deal some decent damage to me. **Then** i`ll teach you more."

She would have loved to throw something back in his smug face, but she was still busy trying to fill her lungs with air again.

Finally, she was able to cough a few times and then take a deep breath. Slowly she got back up, supporting herself on her practice sword. She was getting really frustrated, since that was pretty much the only thing she had heard since he started training her. Three months ago, she had woken up in the 63th northern district of Rukongai, without any memoryof where she was or how she got there. She was then almost immediately found by the man standing in front of her, Makoto Souken.

He told her her name, explained where she was and how she had gotten there. She was in Soul Society, the world of spirits, which she herself had become. She had died in the human world and had been sent to this world by a Shinigami. She had no family here or a place to belong. She would eventually gain one, but she`d be on her own for a long time before that happened. The only option she had athis point had been the Makoto Souken`s offer, which was that he would train her to become a Shinigami, a peacekeeper between the worlds. He had warned her from the start that it would be painful, brutal and difficult and that she would be taken into the 11th division, the most violent of them all, in which he held the 4th seat but this…

"We have been at this for 3 months, day in and day out. Ever since you found me we`ve been doing nothing else, when you were around and when you weren`t I had to sparr with other people who were stronger than me, who possessed an equally non-existent amount of mercy as you do. But there is no real progress, it`s always the same pattern. We start, i get beat up, you tell me to get better and the whole cicle repeats itself." She knew she`d get herself into trouble if she kept talking, but after all this time she had to get at least something out of her teacher.

"Everyone else in this place is just plainly swordfighting and nothing else and I have been doing exactly that. Nobody who fought me up until now wanted anything else, but you somehow do, even if you don`t tell me so. I know I agreed to let you teach me how to fight, but could you at least give me a little hint as to what you expect from me? "

He looked at her for a very long amount of time, without uttering a word and then closed his eyes as several emotions were scurrying over his face. After a while he let out a defeated sigh and answered her question much more calm than she had expected.

"Yeah, I guess I might have been a little unfair", he stated bluntly. "Sit down, i`ll explain it to you."

She hesitated, as she was a little perplex that her teacher would just change his mind like that.

"Come again?", she asked confused.

"I said sit down, i`ll explain it to you", he answered.

"This is a trap isn`t?"

"No it`s not."

"Sure it`s not."

"I`m telling you, i`m serious."

"I kind of get the feeling that you aren`t-"

"I am, now sit down before I change my mind."

On that statement she dropped her caution and simply sat down opposite from him. She put her sword to her left side and waited for him to talk.

"Alright", he began, "I think I need to get a little more precise when I say unfair. What I meant was that what I am expecting of you was something you could never have showed me. I wanted to test you with these fights, in order to see if you displayed any kind of Reiryoku or Reiatsu control."

"Any kind of what now?", she asked, confused again.

"Let me finish and you won`t have to ask these questions", he said in a slightly annoyed tone that told her to not interrupt him again.

She smiled sheepishly and put on an apologetic tone. "Sorry", she said.

He continued with his explanation. "Reiryoku means the power within, so to speak the power or potential that is inside your body. Reiatsu or spiritual pressure is the physical manifestion of that power, which looks something like this." He closed his eyes for a second and suddenly started glowing and was surrounded by a red cloud of energy. It disappeared just as fast again, leaving Souke to look normal again. "I`m pretty sure you`ve seen some form of it already, over at the 4th division, when they were healing you."

She thought about it and quickly remembered how she had witnessed that on the numerous occasions that she had "visited" the 4th divisons hospital.

"Ah yeah, there was always this greenish energy surrounding their hands when they were accelerating my healing process. I always got the impression that was a healing only thing since i`ve never seen something like that here in the 11th division."

"Yeah well", Souken continued "that`s because what they are using is something called kido, a kind of spellcasting that requires precise reiatsu control and the closest anyone in this division has ever come to, save for me and everyone above me, is just releasing their spiritual pressure in an uncontrolled and undirected manner, without giving it any form or purpose at all. The only thing that does for them is to either paralyze their opponent or strengthen their own physical abilities. Plus, the 11th division ain`t really comprised of the type of people that use kido or any non-physical based combat methods, since pretty much anyone around here is a fighting addicted adrenaline junkie, but that`s something you already figured out on your own, didn`t you?"

Oh yes, that she had. Ever since word got around that she was trained by the divisions 4th seat, she got constantly challenged, just for the hell of it. Being tutored by a higher up made somewhat of a celebrity and a target at the same time. When she could she mostly evaded those challenges, which gave her something of a bad reputation, but she didn`t care about that, since every time she gets one of those challenges it`s when her training is already over and at that point, she really doesn`t want to fight anymore than she already had to. However, the fights she did take on were either a tie or, rarely, a win for her. In that regard the training she did with Souken had some merit.

"My initial goal was to get you to think and try if you could use that power too. Since they are spirits just like yourself, I thought you`d make a connection between the dots."

"How would i? No one here uses that and all you ever "thaught" me was self defense."

"Yeah I noticed from your little outbreak just now", he remarked, slightly cynical.

"What I was trying to do was to get you to control your Reiryoku and by extension your Reiatsu, but I think it`s easier if I actually taught you that myself. The learning effect won`t be as great, though I reckon at this point you don`t give a damn."

She couldn`t hold back the snark on that last sentence.

"I`ll give you the basics", he continued, "and the rest is up to you."

"Wait, I thought you were gonna teach me?"

He smiled deviously and stood up. "And now I just told you **what** i`m going to teach you. Learning effect is still the best when you do it yourself. All i`m providing now is… a little jumpstart." He put his training sword back into it`s holder at the dojo`s walls and non-challantly made his way to the exit.

"But that`s gonna have to wait. For at least a week, since i`m gonna be busy."

_Ah, so he`s leaving again_, she thought to herself._ But 3__rd__ seat Yumichika Ayasegawa isn`t here. And neither is lieutenant Madarame. Captain Kenpachi (luckily) wouldn`t even bother with me since i`m way too weak. That only means… Oh no no no no._

"Can`t you take me with you this time?" she asked slightly unnerved.

He looked back at her and from the apologetic smile on his face she could already tell what the answer was gonna be.

"Sorry kid, this kind of work is way out of your league. Better take the upper exit", he advised her.

He stopped in front of the sliding door and looked back at her.

"As in it right now. You know when i`m gonna open these doors , those people out there won`t hesitate."

Oh, she knew vividly. Although she had only been in the 11th division for 6 months, she had lived trough that onslaught time and time again. Even Souken pityed her, which is why he built a secret exit into the roof of the division dojo where he gave her private lessons. He waited until she had put the training sword back, picked up her real one and climbed up the walls and reached the special mounts they had placed there, until he opened the sliding door. By the time he had stepped out and left the door open she had already exited on the roof and kept herself close to it until the first men had already stormed into the dojo, looking for a fight. She smiled to herself,got on her feet and started running on the rooftops. Given her peculiar situation as personal apprentice of 4th seat, Souken had prepared several hideouts for her on the entire division area. Only a few people knew where those were including everyone above Souken himself.

Makoto Souken was a strange person. He was sarcastic, a Little vicious, sometimes mean-spirited, and a little sadistic, but at the same time the first person who stood up for her, immediately took her under his wing without any questions asked and sometimes he was even unexpectedly kind and caring. Except when it came to fighting. When it came to that he was relentless. But if nothing else, he was the closest to a real family she had.

He was also fairly new in the 11th division, only 2 months longer than she has was, but they had already accepted him as one of their own since he had gone toe to toe with Yumichika ans Ikkaku at the same time ofr a while until they overwhelmed him.

He had previously been in the 6th division under Captain Kuchiki Byakuya. That however was all she knew as she never really got a chance to get out of the 11th, since she either had to fight, do chores, or was lazing around on the orders of her captain like the rest of the division/squad.

Since Souken wasn`t around, she`d ask for some time outside of the squad to finally get a chance to learn more about Soul Society. I`d be a nice change for once in a while to see something new.

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**Author`s notes:**

Told you it`d get longer.

If you`ve got your own opinion, PM me, or, better yet, Review the Story. I`ll always welcome consturctive criticism.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Makoto Souken

After having opened the sliding door, it didn`t take long for the first few challengers to storm the dojo in an attempt to get to his apprentice and fight her. Despite Kiara`s complaints that she wasn`t learning anything, it was really quite the opposite. She did take up on some things rather quickly. The 3 months of sparring had already given her a rather surprising tenacity, strength and speed. She thought of herself as weak, but that was only because she measured herself after him.

She was quite adept at copying and adopting fighting styles and moves that she had only seen, but never performed. The way she directed his sword to the ground just a couple of minutes before was a move he was constantly using whenever she attacked from above. Not just that, but she learned a few things here and there from all the other fights that she had to endure.

She was a little copycat, since every move she used against him, she had learned somewhere else.

In just 3 months she had already improved a great deal, given the fact that she had never yielded a sword before.

However, that was not relevant now. She knew how to take care of herself and would have to do so for about a week.

He went on ahead to his quarters and gathered a few things he might need later. Then he went on his way to tell his captain that he would be on a leave for a while. The first few times he did this Captain Kenpachi actually complained that he was working and not lazing like everyone else.

"The Hell kinda work do you gotta do that prevents you from doin`nothing?", he had always shouted. With his raspy voice and his towering statue, Zaraki Kenpachi always made a terrifying impression on him.

"I`m afraid that`s personal sir", he had always answered. He could not believe to this day that a lazy excuse like this wasn`t questioned at all.

"Fine whatever. Since you`ve got so much work, you can just as well do the cleanin` shit. You an` your little protégé. `The devil she at anyway?", he had always roared.

"Either fighting some of the rookies or running away from them, sir."

"You better reduce that behavior to fightin` only without the runnin` away shit. And don`t be so formal, i`m your captain, not the freakin` Soul King whose boots you`re about to polish", he had added the first time. Since Makoto was never around when he had cleaning duty, all that baggage unfortunately fell to Kiara. And naturally the women and cleaning jokes didn`t take long to turn up. That was until everyone in squad 11 realized that she had a quick temper and a quicker fist when it came to things like that.

And so it was almost destiny that one poor soul talked about this stuff in her near vicinity and got his nose broken, at which point the jokes had vanished just as fast as had appeared.

He made his way to the captain`s office to deliver the document with which he requested absence for an undetermined amount of time.

When he entered the office, it was empty. So he simply put his papers on the desk, since he got the feeling that his captain would not even read them even if he handed them over directly. It was simply a formality.

Slowly making his way out of the squad 11 area, he made sure nobody followed, surveilled, or noticed him leaving in any way. He steered towards the walls, which weren`t too far away. He had made sure that his quarters were close to the borders, when he had chosen them after being relocated to squad 11. When he was sure that no one followed him and as soon as he was out of the seireitei grounds he started using shunpo in the direction of the northern Rukongai district.

He wasn`t a great shunpo master or anything, but he had more than enough proficiency with it that he was still a lot faster with it than on foot. He bypassed the 3rd and 13th squad grounds as he first had to go around seireitei in order to go to where he needed to be directly.

The 80th district of northern rukongai. That was his goal. What he needed to do, could only be done there since no one would notice it. If the central 46 would ever find out, they`d imprison him on the spot. And if they ever figured out everything that he was planning to do, he`d be executed before he ever saw the court room from the outside.

District 80 was very far away and even if he was able to use shunpo the hole day, he`d barely manage to get there. So he took his time. Not that he was dawdling around or anything, but he wasn`t exactly pushing himself either. He just had to make sure that he would arrive at his destination somewhat rested and not completely exhausted, or else the next thing he was about to concoct would go horribly wrong.

So he traveled and rested again and again, until it had been about about 2 days, as he finally reached district 80. And was, once again, disgusted and disturbed, because of the way people were living here. Everyone was covered in dirt, blood and sweat, solid houses were practically non-existent and the residents behaved like animals.

Tearing themselves apart over even the slightest bit of food or water, fighting for everything that could assure their survival, if even a little bit.

Makoto pitied these people. They had not done anything wrong in their mortal lifes and yet, after having been sent over to the soul society, have seen and lived nothing but misery. He would have loved to have done something, and he would do so, when he had accomplished his primary goal at the time. Finding the other soul for whose death he was responsible.

He always thought back to that one faithful day, where he had seriously fucked up on a mission in the human world. Where he had let a hollow get away, which resulted in the death of 2 children playing on the street, a boy and a girl. The girl, Kiara, he was able to find in time to send her to the other world and save her from becoming a hollow. That was why he was raising her, why he took her in. So she wouldn`t be alone, that she would have someone to turn to and that she would not be subjugated by someone who had only the worst of intentions.

The boy however, he was never able to find. Although he did find his trail, he was never able to get to him, he had always run away. When the boy had eventually stopped running and Makoto had finally reached him, only for it to already be too late. He would always remember the horrified look on the boy's face, as the last piece of the chain of fate evaporated from his chest, revealing the hole in his chest and when he was automatically transported to hueco mundo, where he then surely had fully transformed into a hollow.

Makoto couldn`t let things be as they were. He would find this boy, even if he didn`t know where to look, or if he even was alive anymore. But the boy had something special, the only reason why Makoto had been able to sense him in the first place when he was looking for him back then. He couldn`t explain it, but the boy felt like he was emitting the same reiatsu as a hollow, even before the chain of fate had completely dissappeared.

The boy had had hollowpowers even before he had died. That alone was assuring enough that he would survive for at least sometime.

Makoto made his way to his hideout, where he had hidden the equipment he needed to open a garganta. It was underground so no one would suspect something. It didn`t look like much, the only things that were there were a bed, some medicine, a ration of food and the tech which he used to open gargantas.

He had stolen the equipment from the science division a few months ago, which took quite a lot of effort. Kurotsuchi Mayuri, the 12th division's captain, had made some excessive security measures, through which Makoto barely made it out alive.

He even had to resort to his Bankai in a last ditch effort.

But he made it. Maybe it was because the tech he stole wasn`t so unique anymore, for his follower`s ferocity was nowhere near the level on which the break-and-enter precautions had been.

He hid the the tech in a heavily fortified and hard to find hideout, where he was right now.

After having closed his hideout from the inside and after having checked if all his defensive systems and spells were intact he stepped in front of what looked like a normal doorframe with a mundane looking door in the middle of the room. There weren`t any walls around the frame so it looked kind of strange. He took a deep breath and checked if he had enough reiatsu to create a stable pathway the whole way to hueco mundo. He took another deep breath and started to cast the spell.

Well, it wasn`t really a spell, more him pouring his Reiatsu into the door, at which point the door did the rest, it was a very automatic process.

After he was finished, he took another deep breath. And opened the door.

* * *

**Author`s notes:**

Alright, another one done. I`ll try to keep `em coming on a (somewhat) steady pace, depending on me having the time and or a writers block.

If you`ve got your own opinion, PM me, or, better yet, review the Story. I`ll always welcome consturctive criticism.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Alone

Setsuzo was walking in the desert, like he always did, searching for something to devour.

_He_ just couldn`t remember his name, so he just chose one for himself after a while to have at least somewhat of a grasp on his own identity. He had thought long and carefully until he was statisfied with his choice.

It had taken him some time, but eventually he was able to control and suppress his desire to constantly consume. He also changed what he ate. What he found might have been sufficient, but it felt wrong to just eat what was cowering in fear in front of him.

After some time it had made him sick, especially after he had collected more knowledge about what he was. He had met others like him, with a hole in their chest. And shortly after meeting them, he was overcome with a new overwhelming feeling that replaced his drive to eat; a drive to fight.

He wasn`t a great fighter by any means, but he was persistent, focused and very tenacious. Through these very qualities he tended to win almost every fight, and when he held the other hollows in his hand, they would always tell him everything he wanted to know.

He was a hollow, a through negative emotions transformed soul of a human that had died. He was in hueco mundo, the world of hollows and the fragile things he had been eating, were lost human souls that hadn`t transformed into hollows yet.

And he had a problem with eating human souls. So he changed that.

Now he was not eating human souls anymore, he was eating other hollows. It was more entertaining and it also felt more deserved, if he would have to fight for his reward, instead of having it presented on a silver plate.

With each hollow he consumed he could feel that he was growing a little stronger. He was getting faster and stronger each day and he would not stop there. He could feel that he was on the verge of something, as if he would soon become a lot stronger if he just consumed a little more.

He took pride in his acomplishments. It was the only thing he could take pride in, because it pretty much defined his whole existence. Hunger, the drive to fight, the constant feeling of growth in his abilities. That and his skills.

One of which, a very useful one, was that he could feel danger when it dawned upon him. That was more of an instinct, but he could just tell when he felt something that he could never meassure up against. That specific feeling always announced itself whenever he came even remotely close to Las Noches, a castle-esk bulding that was supposedly the home of the current ruler of hueco mundo, former Très Espada Tier Harribel.

Logically, he was staying the hell away from that place. The last thing he wanted was to be torn apart by the empress of his world, or one of her lackeys.

His goal was luckily in the opposite direction. A place that was practically brimming with other hollows, all of them weaker than him and he would not let an opportunity like that slip away. He just knew that the place they were at would give him the edge he needed to evolve.

It was the only thing he could do anyway. He didn`t have any allies or enemies, family or just normal acquaintances. He had no one.

He was all alone.

Sometimes that made him peaceful. He had found out that he wasn`t like most of the other hollows. In fact, he was unlike any of the ones that he had ever met. While the others were sadistic and cruel, he didn`t really care if his opponents or victims suffered or not as long as he came out on top. They were greedy beyond belief, he was modest.

On the other hand, there were times when he wished that he was more like them. At least then he wouldn`t be alone. Because even if it granted peace sometimes it was also very painful and unpleasant when there was nobody one could talk to.

And sometimes, silence can be very loud.

That was also why Setsuzo wanted to evolve. He hoped he would become more like a hollow and less, well, himself. It was as if his body had transformed, but his mind was still human. He hated that. It prevented him from truly belonging somewhere.

He had been wandering for hours, step after step, getting closer and closer to his goal that would hopefully save him from having to continue to live this way. Not much further, he was almost there.

The sky didn`t really change much, since it was basically a giant canvas covering the real sky of hueco mundo. He never actually saw the real sky, he had only heard about it from other hollows, that it was just a pitchblack ceiling having only the moon to provide light.

Setsuzo stopped and slowly became confused. He should be there. He didn`t understand. Did he go the wrong direction? No that was impossible, he knew he was in the right place, but there was nothing here. He couldn`t see anything. He slowy turned around, checking in every direction and still nothing.

He sat down and started to think.

_Calm down, there`s surely and explanation to this._ He let himself fall on his back and started to stare at the sky.

_Come on, this can`t be it, there has to be something. I`m right on top of it so why is nothing- wait, on top?_ He got right back up again and scolded himself for not thinking of it right away.

_If it`s not around me, maybe it`s _beneath_ me._

He closed his eyes and started to focus. He immediately found what he was looking for. The vast amount of spiritual beings was in fact under him. Waiting, for someone to go down there and feast on them.

So he started to dig. His body wasn`t made for this kind of work, it was made for fighting, which is why he only progressed at a modest pace, but he didn`t really care much. He didn`t stop when he was surrounded by sand. He didn`t stop when it was getting hard to breathe. He just kept digging.

**(Bleach OST 1 Track 7: _Creeping Shadows_)**

Until after what felt like an eternity, he finally broke trough. And was taken aback by what he saw. The things that lived down he were not just regular hollows. They were gigantic, covered by a dark cloak and unusually long and thin. What frightened Setsuzo a bit however was that they all looked the same. None of them were really different from the other, each and every one of them was just like the one that preceded or followed.

And they felt stronger than him. Now that he was closer he could tell for certain. These hollows were superior to him in every way. They were much larger, certainly stronger and had a higher spiritual pressure than him. But for some reason they all suppressed it. That's why they all felt weaker than him from afar.

Their sorroundings were just as mundane as they were. Only plain ground with occasional large trees rising from the bottom, reaching up to the ceiling of the underground cave, possibly supporting the ground above it.

Setsuzo was lucky and fell down close to one of those trees, so he grabbed it with his right hand and got to the ground safely. The landing was a little rough, but there was no real damage done. When he got up, he looked at the creatures again, now even more overwhelmed by their size.

They didn`t seem to notice him though. They just stood around and did nothing. Something was wrong. This just didn`t feel right. Even if they decided to ignore him, those creatures would at least move.

Setsuzo got up and started walking around, slowly and warily at first, faster as time progressed but still cautious.

The longer he was in the cave, the more his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He counted about 20 of those things, all gathered together, almost as if they were cuddling. He kept walking around until suddenly, one of the hollows turned towards him in an instant and aimed to stomp him.

**(Bleach OST 1 Track 7: _Creeping Shadows_ ends & Bleach OST 1 Track 9: _Enemy unseen_ starts)**

He evaded just in time, only to be targeted by another foot. He also evaded that one and as soon as he got a little distance between him and the two attackers he looked around and was petrified for a moment.

Every hollow in the cave was looking at him. They had also formed a circle around him. And amidst of all of that was a spinechilling laugh that made it`s way to his ears.

"Well, well, well would you look at that friends. Some lost little lamb has found it`s way to our domain", a voice said in a mocking tone.

_Oh fuck_, were the first words that came to Setsuzos mind. _I gotta get out of here._

He had gravely underestimated the situation. The feeling that he could not defeat what was right in front of him rang every alarm bell there was in his head. He had to do something to get as much distance between him and that voice as possible, or he would very certainly die.

He panicked, started to look around himself frantically for an opening to get to the tree closest to the hole he dug. He started running as soon as he saw it, completely disregarding any safety what so ever. And regretted that decision immediately afterwards.

Before he could react, a red beam of energy impacted in fornt of him, missing him by only a few meters.

"Now now, leaving so soon? I`ll admit it, it's not exactly a Palace down here, but it`s not _that_ bad", the voice continued in a threatening tone.

Setsuzo was frozen still, only able to move his head to look where the blast had come from. One of the large hollows had his mouth open and was steaming a bit out of it.

"Frightenend by the menos? I guess someone as weak as you would be, but don`t worry", the voice uttered with an extra portion of menace in it`s the next words, "you have far bigger things to be concerned about."

A shape started to step into the light from the shadows, revealing a hollow with frightening features. He was of a normal build, about Setsuzos size, with a few major differences. His legs were very animalistic, so he only stood on his toes. The skin on his upper body looked like it was covered by light brown bandages and both his hands ended in a claw, much like Setsuzo`s right hand.

The most significant difference however was that he had wings made of blades. They rattled with each step, creating a high-pitched ringing sound. And then there was his mask. His eyes were diagonal slits and his mouth was warped to a menacing smile.

However all of that didn`t matter, because looks didn`t really intimidate Setsuzo, it never had with any of his opponents. What terrified him to his core was the spiritual pressure that this hollow was emitting. He must have surpressed it before Setsuzo got to this cave, because he had never felt a reiatsu that was so drenched in sadistic needs for violence and murder on his way to this place.

"Oh i`m sorry, where are my manners? My name is Bainne. These", he pointed at the creatures standing around them," are my loyal subordinates, the Menos Grande. And we", Bainne spoke with a cruel grin on his face,"will most likely be the last thing you see before you are eaten alive."

Bainne started making his approach, almost casually, as if it was a stroll in the park. Setsuzo wanted to move, but besides shaking his entire body, he couldn`t move a single muscle.

Bainne slowly came closer, his shit-eating grin growing wider and wider.

_Come on, I can`t die here. Move, goddamnit._

Nothing happened.

_Move._

Not even one muscle in his body listened to his commands.

_MOVE!_

Bainne now stood right in front of him and although they were about the same height, he somehow absolutely towered Setsuzo`s appearance with his own.

"Come on, this can`t be it, right? At least try not to go out as a little bitch. Tell you what", he said, while leaning down to Setsuzo`s face and coming dangerously close, "i`ll give you a little headstart. That way, you`ll at least have a small chance of living a little longer and I in turn get a chance to be a little entertained, which will result in you living even longer than that little headstart that i`m giving you. Yeah, that sounds fair don`t you think?"

Fair would be if Setsuzo would be at the other end of Hueco Mundo right now, or simply anywhere else than where he was right now. He wanted to answer but he was still struggeling to even breathe.

"Really? No answer?", Bainne said and looked like he was getting pissed. Only to relax again and once more put on that terrifying smile.

"Know what, i`m just gonna take that as a yes. And since i`m such a nice guy, i`ll even help you upstairs."

"Up-upstairs?", was the first thing Setsuzo was able to stutter together.

Bainne burst out in laughter. That sound was beyond seizure-inducing. It sounded like thousands of blades were being ground together in a very violent fashion. He stretched out one of his arms and picked Setsuzo up as if he was nothing.

"Well would you look at that, he can actually talk", he bickered amused. "Yeah, little guy", he continued and pointed to the hole in the ceiling. "Upstairs." Without any further ado, he wound up and threw Setsuzo with sheer force towards the hole. He wasn`t even flying 2 seconds and had already passed it and was coming out on the ground of the desert again.

This time it didn`t take long for Setsuzo to actually move. After he had landed (very roughly), he immediately picked himself up and started running the hell away.

_Fuck._

He kept running and running, never looking back, he didn`t need to in order to know that he was being pursued.

_Fuck._

"Run, little guy, RUN!" Bainne was now screaming behind him in pure euphory.

_FUCK._

He wouldn`t get away in time. He wouldn`t gain any distance. If Bainne would want to catch up with him, he would do so, but like he said, Bainne wanted to entertain himself. So he`d let Setsuzo run a little bit more, until he was bored and then he`d get rid of him.

At least that`s what was supposed to happen.

Somewhere, deep inside of him, under all the pressure, fear and agony Setsuzo awakened a new power. He had never done it before, only having seen other hollows doing it.

In his deseperate wish to flee, run away and be anywhere but here, as far away as possible, he opened a Garganta.

He didn`t even think, he just pressed on forwards, towards and through the Gateway to another world he had subconsciously created, only to find himself running in a completely different environement than before.

It was dark. Trees were everywhere, but not the ones he knew, these ones had strange green stuff on them. Wide lines made of a stonelike material were set up in a grid-like pattern. Along those lines were strange blocks, sometimes with yellow quarter-like lights on their sides.

He stopped in his tracks, for Bainne`s presence behind him had vanished. He immediately looked around to check if he saw him, but there was no trace.

Setsuzo allowed himself to breathe again, and started to further take in his environement. The skies were clear, devoid of any clouds and very quickly, he noticed a difference.

The sun was missing. The skies weren`t lit up by the yellow ball he was used to look at. Instead, many stars were sprinkled across the canvas above him. It would have been a very calming image, if there had not been an unexpected and very unwelcome return of a certain voice.

"You little shit, thought you could run away from ME?" Bainne`s angry voice was echoing through what could only be described as a hole in the air. The hole seemed strangely out of place, still showing the desolate wastelands of Hueco Mundo.

It wasn`t long until the body followed the voice, and Setsuzo was able to recognize Bainne`s now from rage distorted face. He stepped out of the garganta and as soon as he did, it closed behind him.

After he had stepped out, he had immediately taken an intimidating stance and started to build up his murderous Reiatsu, only to stop dead in his tracks. Where a moment ago he was clearly the hunter, he was now looking like the hunted, startled beyond belief himself.

He looked around frantically. His shock continued to grow as he slowly realized what his sorroundings looked like.

Then he looked back at his prey with a very affixiated gaze and said: "You`re either a complete madman, or completely oblivious where you just went to, which would be even worse. For you that is", he added.

A hole in the air started to open once more, through which Bainne slowly retreated. "If you ever get out of the giant mess you`ve just gotten yourself into, trust me when I tell you that wherever you are, wherever you`ll go: i`ll find you." Those last words where filled with such an intense murderous intent that it ran shivers down Setsuzo`s whole body, even long after his persecutor was gone.

**(Bleach OST 2 Track 11: _Here to stay)_**

After some time passed he finally loosened up a little, having some peace and quiet at last. He looked up to the sky again and took in the sight of it once again. Now that he looked closer, he could see that it was not black but in fact a very dark blue, filled with stars. It was a comforting sight. He climbed up one of the block formed buildings and got on it`s roof to be even a bit closer to that soothing image.

He was a little worried, since Bainne was, in his eyes, absurdely powerful and yet he got out of this place as fast as he had arrived. Setsuzo didn`t care though. He just looked up at the sky and for the first time in what felt like ages ago, he had found peace.

* * *

**Autho's notes:**

Something i forgot to mention at the end of the last chapter: (Gasp and shocking gestures) Squad 11 4th seat Makoto Souken has a Bankai!? Why, yes he does. Big fucking shocker i know ;)

Jokes aside, yes he does have a Bankai and a pretty awesome one at that i might say. You won't find out about it though until a lot later. Consider it a little tease for things to come, since he is a Major Player for most things that are Happening in this Story. The biggest ball has already been dropped, namely that he was responsible for the death of our two main characters. Well, death as humans (obviously). No more on that Topic though, wouldn't want to spoil anything for you.

Now for this chapter:

I hope the way i inserted the Soundtrack titles wasn't too confusing. As for everything else there is really not much to talk about without revealing some things, so i don't really have a lot to say on that. I do have something to say that i didn't mention at the beginning of the prologue though. English. It's **not** my maiden language, so do expect some grammar mistakes and repeating words since my vocabulary isn't quite where i'd like it to be. That being said:

If you`ve got your own opinion, PM me, or, better yet, review the Story. I`ll always welcome consturctive criticism.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Flee the peace

Setsuzo opened his eyes, only to be blinded by an obnoxiously bright light.

_Damn, what happened? , _he thought to himself, while sitting up. Then it all came back.

The underground he had previously never known about. The absurdely large hollows (they were called Menos Grande if he remembered correctly) that were just standing around and-

Him.

Bainne.

The most terrifying being he had ever met as far as he could think back. The longer he thought the more it came back to him. The Diagonally slitted eyes. The sadistic smile and the spiritual pressure that was oozing with bloodlust. And last but not least, his promise that he would hunt him.

After that, there was not much else. All that Setsuzo remembered was the soothing sight of the sky in it`s warm, deep blue and the many many stars it was covered with.

_Shit, I must`ve fallen asleep, _he thought while letting his eyes adjust to the new level of brightness he was not used to.

_Where am I anyway?_

He started to look around and his question answered itself almost immediately. Human souls were walking around everywhere, except they were not souls, for the chain of fate was missing. They were actual humans.

He was in the human world.

However, none of the humans seemed to have the usual reaction when they saw him. They just walked by the building he was sitting on. Maybe they didn`t actually see him. He jumped into the middle of the ground that they were walking on.

Still nothing. He was baffled at that phenomenon.

_It`s almost like they don`t even notice i`m here._

Then it hit him. Maybe they didn`t see him because they couldn`t. Human souls were able to see him because they were spiritual beings, same as him, but humans were physical beings, so he figured they could only see or feel him when they actually had a connection to the spiritual. But that was absurd.

It would imply that humans were in possession of a Reiryoku and Reiatsu in their physical body and that was just impossible.

He started to walk around a little, ignoring the humans that were around him, just like they were ignoring him. Then he started thinking.

_They can`t see me, but does that mean they can`t interact with me at all?_

He wanted to test that theory, so he looked around to choose his test subject. He ultimately decided on a woman that was standing around and leaning on a wall, staring in a strange, flat, little box, which had a rectangular form.

He stood right in front of her and bowed down so that his face was right across from hers. No reaction, but that was to be expected. Next, he poked her a little with his left hand in the shoulder to which he got a reaction. She looked up from the rectangular box, and started looking around asking: "Who was that? Who`s there?"

While panning her head around she never noticed him, so that confirmed his theory. They could not see him, but they could still interact with him and he could interact with them.

He spent the rest of the day strolling around and testing out all sort of different things like that. He walked into a few humans, slightly amused at their reactions. He jumped on buildings and enjoyed the environement.

It was so refreshingly different here. While in Hueco Mundo everything was mostly the same (one large and vast desert), here, everything was varied. Green trees, humans everywhere and several different buildings. One was even made of something that mirriored whatever was walking by it. That way he finally got a chance to properly look at his own image.

He was not at all as frightening or strange as he imagined. Compared to other hollows he was actually quite average in appearance. Finally seeing instead of just feeling the hole in his chest was a little unsettling, but he had never felt any kind of discomfort with it being there, so it was nothing all too special.

He looked almost human, save a few differences. He was 3 meters tall, of medium build, his body was of a dark color and his feet were almost humane but ended in claws and of course his normal looking-but-scalescovered left arm and his clawlike right arm. It wasn`t how he had looked when he first woke up as a hollow 3 months ago, there had been a few minor changes occurring.

His right arm now not just ended in claws, but started to grow blades on the sides. His left arm was not only covered in scales anymore, but Setsuzo could also whiden it out a bit to use it kind of like a shield. His body had also not been as muscular as it was now. At first he had had a slender, almost thin body, but through constant fighting it became trained and strong.

His body color had lightened up a little, first having been pitch black and now more of a very dark greyish color.

He kept walking forward, completely disregarding the humans in front of him. Then he thought of something. The day before he had achieved something that cast a shadow on all of his other abilities. He had changed worlds. From one second to the next he had traveled from one world into another.

He needed to master this ability as fast as possible, so he could escape when his life depended on it. Then for some reason stronger hollows were afraid of this place, or else Bainne would not have made such a swift retreat like he did yesterday.

What was he afraid of anyway? Setsuzo was not able to feel a single thing since he entered this world. An occasional low spiritual pressure, but those were only lost human souls. Right?

He never bothered to check, the only prey he was living on were other hollows and none of the Reiatsu he had felt since he got to the human world resembled that of a hollow.

Now he was getting worried. No other hollow around. Humans did not see him. It was the perfect place for hollows to feast and yet, Bainne, a hollow far stronger than him or anything he had ever seen, almost shit his Pants the moment he got here.

Something was off. Setsuzo started to pick up something in the air, something that practically forebode disaster. And it was getting sronger every minute.

_Shit. This can`t be good, this place is too quiet to be true._

Slowly but surely he started to panick.

He needed to get back. Back to Hueco Mundo.

And he needed to do that fast or-

He couldn`t end that train of thought because in that exact moment, someone strange turned around the next buildingcorner. Someone who shouldn`t exist and yet stood before Setsuzo.

A human with spiritual pressure.

For a human he was pretty big and very muscular. He was wearing normal clothes, a green shirt and Jeans, had a darker Skin color than the others and apart from his height and build, he didn`t differentiate himself much from other humans.

Except he had spiritual pressure. It had been pretty low at first but upon coming in Setsuzo`s view, it suddenly spiked, increasing exponentially.

The man also suddenly stood still and looked Setsuzo dead in the eyes.

_He can see me._

For a moment time stood still, as the two individuals gazed into anothers eyes. Setsuzo was the first to make his move. He turned around on the spot and started running as fast as he could. He was taking turns left and right, taking advantage of his surroundings and trying to lose the human, if he was in pursuit.

He kept running and running until he left the buildings behind him. A large section of trees came into his view so he charged towards it, hoping to hide somewhere in there. Then he would figure out his world-traveling powers and get the hell out of here.

He passed the trees and finally slowed down a little, but kept running. He did so until he reached another strange place in this world. Inmidst of the trees he arrived at an area where they had been cut down and replaced by something else.

Crosses made of stone were put into the ground and flowers covered the ground in front of those crosses.

He had never seen this place, so why did it feel so… familiar?

He couldn`t explain how but he knew what this was. He had been here before. Flashes, obscurred pictures shot through his mind, giving him a headache. This was… a graveyard.

How did he know that? Fractured memories shot through his head again, of this very place. He was certain now; he definitely had been here before. He had been standing in this place, in front of a specific tombstone.

Tombstone? Another word that just came to his mind. He tried to concentrate, gather his thoughts and accurately picture some of the images that were racing through his mind.

He started to look around, looking for that tombstone. He didn`t know what it looked like exactly, but he hoped if it even so much as scraped his gaze, it would come back to him.

He was so invested in his thoughts that he almost didn`t notice the dangerous person he was running from approach from behind. Almost.

**(Bleach OST 2 Track 3: On the Verge of Insanity)**

"You`re very fast", the person uttered dangerously close to Setsuzo.

He broke his train of thought and turned around in a flash.

The man that he had lost not minutes ago was standing in front of him, with strange green lights flickering from his feet.

"How did you…?" Setsuzo was shocked at how fast the man had caught up with him and worse he wasn`t even close to being out of breath as he was.

"Let`s just say I have abilities most humans don`t have", the man answered his unfinished question.

_Yeah, no kidding._

"What do you want here? I don`t sense any hostility coming from you, at least not towards humans."

This was not good. The individual was questioning him, surely to make him lower his guard. He would not engage in this game of cat and mousetype questioning. He slowly moved towards a point where he could turn around and run in a straight line away from his pursuer towards open area.

He had no time to test his new power; he just had to hope that it would work.

He still didn`t answer the question. He just kept moving slowly.

His opposite sighed heavily.

"If you wanna play it that way, that`s your choice, but don`t say I didn`t give you a chance first." He took fighting stance and clenched his right hand into a fist.

From one moment to the other his Reiatsu spiked as he uttered the words: "Braza Derecha de Gigante." His entire right arm was starting to cover itself in a black liquid, forming a shield on his lower arm and covering the entire arm in a black color with red stripes.

Setsuzo didn`t even think, he just turned around and ran. He tried to remember what he felt like when he opened that strange gateway the first time, but he couldn`t think of much. He just knew that he had been terrified. That he had wanted to get away from where he was. Pretty much like he felt right now.

So, he tried to focus and picture this gateway in his mind. When he opened them up, he was shocked. Because it was actually _there._ He didn`t waste a second thought and ran straight through it.

Only to wish that he hadn`t the moment he did. Then at the other end of that gate someone far worse then his current opponent already was waiting.

* * *

**Author's notes:**

Another one done. Yeah, yeah, i know, still rather short. It will get longer though. Eventually. (Shit, i hope)

Also i am terribly sorry to you (currently) 50 something People who actually read what i write (Thank you very much for that by the way), but i've made a slight miscalculation. The Story doesn't pick up 4 months after Yhwachs defeat, it picks up 4 **years **after it. I realized that it just wouldn't add up, so yeah. The Overall Story doesn't Change one bit, the only Thing that does is the Point in history where the Story starts.

If you`ve got your own opinion, PM me, or, better yet, review the Story. I`ll always welcome consturctive criticism.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: A little bit of progress

Sado "Chad" Yasutora was confused. A moment ago, he had prepared to eliminate a stray hollow he had encountered in the city. And from one instance to another, the hollow just disappeared, without even having tried to attack him.

The most irritating aspect of the hole thing was that the hollow didn`t harm any of the humans it came across, it just minded it`s own business. Chad had at first been worried that it would wreak havoc, so he had followed it via his Bringer Lights.

But nothing in that order had happened.

Chad dispelled his Fullbring and turned around to walk back into the city. He was glad that this hollow didn't do any harm, but he was also worried. Just because it didn`t do anything didn`t mean it might not be up to something.

He would be more careful in the coming weeks.

* * *

Kiara woke up in one of her hideouts. Today was finally the day that Makoto would return. Just thinking about all the things that she could do with the simple basics that he would teach her already got her excited.

She put on her uniform and tied back her slightly dark red hair into a ponytail. She kept it at around her upper back. She would have liked it longer, but then it would get harder to tie up properly so it would get in the way during a fight.

She got out of her little sleeping place and started to walk to the entrance of the squad 11 grounds. On the way there, she was greeted (flipped off) a few times by her fellow squad members in a cheery harmless way, to which she replied in the same manner.

It was a fun little game that squad 11 had going on division-internally. Flipping eachother off was more of a provocation, an aggressive challenge to a fight. If one accepted, they had to yell at the offender and ask them out on what their problem was, to which the offender reacted with a snarky insult, to which the offended had to react accordingly until the whole thing escalated into a full-on brawl between the two.

If one wanted to decline they simply had to flip the offender off back. The tricky thing there however was that the person who had previously been the offender, was now the offended and could therefor react accordingly.

If one wanted â fight, it was an assured possibility to get one. On other occasions it was just a hilarious thing to do. Kiara had fallen for it quite a few times in the first few days that she had lived here and had to bleed a little bit for that since she was pretty foulmouthed at times.

When she had improved a lot through Makoto`s training however, the tide slowly turned and people didn`t really flip her off to provoke her anymore, but simply for the heck of it, because sometimes it was just funny.

When she arrived at the entrance, she climbed up the giant doorframes and waited on top of it. That way she had a better view and would surely get a hold of him when he got back, so that they could start training immediately.

After an hour she started to get irritated. He normally arrived late in the morning and the sun was already close to noon.

_Damn it, did I miss him?_

**(Bleach OST 3 Track 21: Cop's Robbers)**

Just as that thought came to her mind, a voice resounded by her right side in a cheerfull and mocking manner: "What are you doing up here?"

She screamed in surprise, immediately getting up and turning around, loosing her balance in the process. As she was about to fall over the ledge down on the ground a hand that belonged to a figure of slim but muscular build, in a normal Shinigami haori, with brown short hair, strange line tattoos all over his arms and a yellow belt instead of a white one reached out and a laughing Makoto Souken caught her arm.

"I cannot believe that this still works", he said laughing and pulled her up.

"Leave me alone. You know it`s not fair to just sneak up on me like that", she pouted angrily.

"And that`s why it`s so damn funny", he replied still snickering a little. "But jokes aside, what were you doing up here?"

She looked to the side, a little embarrassed that she had been caught. "I wanted to wait for you so we could start to train the moment you got here."

"Oh really?", he said a little surprised. "Well, that`s a new one. You`re usually not even close to this enthusiastic regarding this topic."

**(Track stops)**

"Yeah, well that`s because usually training involves me getting beaten up, me getting beaten up and me getting beaten up", she shot back and looked at him accusingly. Even though he had given her an explanation and an apology for his… questionable methods, she was still a bit sore.

He raised his shoulders a bit and smiled apologetically. "Yeah, can`t deny that. I gotta warn you though, it won`t be much different from what we`ve been doing so far. Some of the time will just be devoted to training how to use your Reiatsu."

"Yeah, sure that`s great. When do we start with the new training?"

"You did hear what I just said right? That some parts will be the same as before?"

"I got that, now let`s get started already", she said, almost bursting with excitement.

Makoto sighed and sat down. "Allright, ready for your first lesson in our new subject?", he asked.

"What, like, right here?", she responded a little perplexed. "Don`t you wanna go to the dojo for that?"

"No not really. We will afterwards, since we still have the usual to go through", he said with a smile that was a little bit too ominous for her taste. "But no, it doesn`t really matter where we are for this, since we won`t be doing any physical exercises. That comes later, when you`re able to somewhat competently control your Reiatsu and Combine it with your Zandatsu. Until you can do that however it`ll be more of a training for your mind rather than your body."

"Yeah I get that, but I mean shouldn`t we move away from here, since we are kinda, you know, sitting on top of the entrance of our squad grounds?", she asked, still somewhat puzzled.

He looked at her a little amused and said: "Ok first off, we are the 11th division, nobody gives a shit. We are actually _ordered, _by our captain himself mind you, to do nothing when we have free time. Second off, who`s gonna come by and complain, the Captain-Commander? The dude`s probably dozing off somewhere himself, with a bottle of booze in arms reach."

* * *

On the 1st division grounds, in the area of the higher-ups, somewhere on a rooftop, Kyouraku Shunsui, the Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13 suddenly had to sneeze.

* * *

"Relax, we`ve got nothing to worry about." Kiara dropped her complaints and sat down opposite of Makoto. She said nothing, just looked him in the eyes and waited for him to speak.

He raised an eyebrow and asked: "You ready?"

"Of course I am let`s get started", she replied still guiddy.

"Alright, here we go. Remember what I said about Reiryouku and Reiatsu last week?"

She nodded.

"Good. You see, the thing is, even when we don`t control it or don`t _know_ how to control it, we all emit a little Reiatsu. It`s faint, but it`s there. You can imagine your Reiryouku as kind of a well, with small outlets where it can flow out and through your body. By doing that, it becomes physically manifested and therefor Reiatsu. When you can effectifely control your Reiatsu, you can shut those outlets off completely, or turn them up by a wide margin, when you need to perform complex Kido for example, or when you want to overpower your opponent."

"What do you mean by overpower them?"

"When you spiritual pressure is higher than your opponents, you can intimidate them. You know, invoke fear, despair that kind of thing. You can kind of compare it to this: You how it feels when your ears have pressure on them? When you can`t breathe whatever you do?"

"Yeah I do, thanks to countless stomachpunches", she muttered under her breath.

"What was that?", he asked with a little sharpness in his voice.

"Nothing", she quickly responded. "I know what it feels like yes." She knew that she could hold the brutality of her training over his head a little, but she also knew that she shouldn`t push her luck.

He continued with a very faint smile on his lips. "That`s the feeling that you can create in your opponent when your spiritual pressure is higher than his. If there is only a small difference, then the effects won`t be that big. But if you are worlds apart, then you can completely paralyze him by just standing there and doing nothing. Also, when you raise your spiritual pressure, your `Presence` becomes stronger as well. In other words, at some point, your opponent starts to sense your emotions. That becomes really effective when you`re pissed."

As he kept talking, an everwidening smile built itself on her face. That. Sounded. Awesome. "That`s so cool. How do I do that?", she asked full of joy.

"Wow, wow, wow, calm down little warmachine", he said laughing. "Before you can do any of that, you need to be able to bring out your Reiatsu out of your own will first. Which is what we`re gonna practice starting with this day. Still know how I said how to picture your Reiryouku and Reiatsu?"

She nodded. "Does it matter how you imagine that?", she asked.

"No, not really", he answered. "It`s not really about how you picture it. It`s just easier when you have a visualization for it. If you imagine a pool within a nice little forest full of fairies and magical creatures or just the pool itself in a black void has absolutely no effect on it. Personally, I chose the pool in the black void until I could steer it without having to visualize something. It gives you less to imagine and you can spend your focus better. Of course, if you have something else that works better for you, you can choose that", he concluded.

"Wait you don`t have to visualize anymore to use your Reiatsu?", she asked baffled.

"No, I don`t. Think of it as a jumpstart until you get the hang of it. You know what i`ll show you the difference. This", he closed his eyes and concentrated. After a few moments he started to erupt a red aura, like he did a week ago. "Is the time it`ll take you to focus and bring out Reiatsu when you get the hang of it with visualizing. Now watch this", he said with an ominous smile. The aura disappeared again, only to reappear much quicker than it did before. The difference was on a whole other level.

"This is how it looks when you`ve got the hang of it _without_ having to visualize. It`s basically the same process with one less step", he concluded with a statisfied tone.

She couldn`t say anything, she was simply too amazed. Her eyes were on the verge of becoming stars.

"Watch out or you`ll actually start drooling", he said mockingly.

"Less mocking more tutoring. Now", she demanded, which got her a scolding look from her mentor. "Please?", she added in an apologetic tone.

"That`s better", he said with a smile. "Alright we`ll start with the basics. First off, calm down"; he ordered. "You need to be focused for this part." She pouted her cheeks a little at his comment but gave it up quickly, because she knew that he was right.

She calmed herself down and listened closely to the next thing he said.

"Now, reach within yourself and search for the power that dwells inside of you. In other words", he quickly added, because he saw that that statement would not help her in the least; "meditate until you find your inner power."

"That`s it?", she asked baffled. She had expected a little more.

"For starters yes. For now it doesn`t really make sense if you try to do anything if you don`t even have the groundwork for the basics", he answered.

She sighed, took a proper sitting position and started to meditate.

* * *

Hours had passed and nothing had happened. So, since she couldn`t get any results, she started to think about various things. For example, about what Makoto had said about the captain-commander.

Was he really that lazy of a person to just lay around and do nothing? As the head of an organization sworn to protect the balance that kept all worlds together, that seemed extremely irresponsible to her. She had heard some things about him, for example how he was already an… unproductive captain, when he was still captain of the 8th division.

Then, when the former captain-commander had died, he of all people had been the first choice as his successor. The decisions he had made were strategic and well-thought out, completely in contrast to the kind of person he was but she was still sceptic about him.

Then there was her own captain, who was kind of a riddle for himself. He was mad for fighting; he loved nothing more in his life. When he didn`t have anything to do however (which happened a lot since he was ditching most of his dutys on a whim), he did just that. Nothing. Dozing off somewhere on the squad 11 grounds or in his own quarters.

Every now and then some suicidal idiot thought i`d be a fun idea to flip him off, just to see what he would do. Those idiots always regretted it moments after they`ve done it. Because those moments later were usually when the captain turned in their general direction with a shit-eating grin that could freeze bones and his sword already in his hands yelling: "A`ight, show me what you`ve got!"

When she had first seen that she had quickly made a mental note to never flip him off. Because fighting the captain would bring all pain and no fun.

Pain. Kind of what she was feeling right now. Her body was still a little… tense from all the fights she couldn`t avoid over the past week. That got her an idea.

Since she wasn`t doing anything else, she could just as well try and feel out the areas where she was hurt specifically so she could maybe massage them a little when she was done with her day.

She started to concentrate on different parts of her body, her feet, her arms, her upper body, until she noticed something. It was faint, very faint. But she did feel something flowing from her body, like a stream. Something like a flow, a flow of-

"I`ve got something!", she yelled in excitement.

Makoto, who was lying on his back and clearly taking a nap, suddenly snapped wide awake, on his feet and yelled confused: "Hold on!-, wait what?" He looked around until he noticed Kiara standing upright on her feet.

"What`s going on?", he asked a little sleepy.

"I felt something", she said, still overflowing with joy. "I started to feel different parts of my body and-"

"Stop right there, I don`t need that much info about your private life, gross", he interrupted her sarcastically.

"Not those parts you idiot! I checked my body by _meditating_", she accentuated on that last word because Makoto was already preparing another one; "and felt energy flowing from it."

He dropped his sarcastic attitude and put on a sincere one. "Really? That`s great. Didn`t think you`d feel something this fast. I thought it`ll take you weeks. Looks like we`re progressing faster than I thought. Did you find the source?", he asked.

"The source?"

"…"

"…"

"You jumped up the moment you felt something and didn`t go any further didn`t you", he concluded.

"Kinda?", she said with a shrug.

He put his hand on his face and sighed. "Premature celebration, the enemy of all success", he said, almost a little disappointed.

He put a more uplifting expression on and said: "Well don`t worry, a little progress is still progress."

Her mood took a light turn upwards after hearing those words and she smiled.

"Let`s call it a day for now. We`ll continue tomorrow. But worry not, we still have our usual training regiment to go through."

Her smile dropped upon hearing those words. _Oh god, why._

* * *

**Author's notes:**

Another one done. And i'm think i starting to get better with the Humor, but that's just my own self-absorbed opinion. (I do hope i'm right though)

Not realy much to say here sooooooo...

If you`ve got your own opinion, PM me, or, better yet, review the Story. I`ll always welcome consturctive criticism.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Unexpected offer

Hueco mundo. The endless wasteland, a desert, wherever one would gaze upon. The desolate, bleak world that hollows called their home.

Since the days that Sousuke Aizen reigned that place, it was consistent of 3 layers.

The underground was one of those layers, where there was nothing but crystalline trees that were growing towards the ground of the second layer, supporting it and sometimes breaking through it.

It was also a refuge for weaker hollows, who either didn`t have the balls, or weren`t insane enough to wander in the second or even third layer. The upper two layers where under the strict rule of Tier Harribel, former Très Espada and arrancars where scattered all over the area. Only when one lived far enough away from her castle, then survival was possible up there.

It wasn' that the empress wasn't ruling the lowest layer as well, she just didn't give a damn about it, or didn't really think it would need surveillance since all the hollows living there were too weak to pose a threat to her reign.

Bainne was one of those hollows who were seeking refuge in the underground layer, or, as it was called, the forest of menos.

He was an adjuchas, a step further in hollow evolution than what was swirling around him. Gillians, as they were called, the lowest form of a menos. Their form never differentiated from each other, always being large, slender and covered by a black cloak.

They were high in numbers down here in the forest and they were strong. Not as strong as he was, not even close, but strong. However, they were miserable company, as they completely lacked any personality what so ever.

Even though he was clearly stronger than them, he was still vastly inferior to what was lurking around one floor above him.

The arrancar.

It was a form of hollow evolution that was kind of a bonus step. One could do it wether one was a Gillian, and adjuchas or a vasto lorde, which was the highest class of menos.

When a hollow became an arrancar, they discarded part of their masks to attain Shinigami powers.

That was Bainne`s goal, however he wanted to become a Vasto Lorde first. In order to to do what he planned to do, he needed as much power as somehow possible. And on that subject, he was stuck. He had devoured a great amount of hollows and he had felt his power increase, but the more he consumed, the less his power grew.

So, he started to fight and devour stronger hollows, but his last fight had almost ended deadly for him, which caused him to start thinking into a different direction. If he wanted to secure his increase in power, he needed some kind of back-up, something that would always guarantee his victory.

And that`s when he thought of an idea. Up until that point, he had always been a loner, never thinking much of his ability to control Gillians, until it had saved him in that last fight that he had won only by a dangerously small margin.

It got him thinking further, so much so until he had come to the solution to his problem. He needed an entourage, an army that would help him eradicate everything in his way.

Besides, even if he had become an Arrancar after having become a Vasto Lorde, he wasn't entirely sure if the power he would have amassed at that point would be enough.

He would be powerful no doubt, but to survive the climate he'd be going to would require more than just himself, no matter how strong he was.

That had however proven more difficult than he had thought. He did have an abundance of Gillians, but that was not enough.

He needed Adjuchas like himself, but none of the Gillians he controlled possessed the certain something so that they would distinguish themselves from others and keep evolving.

The core idea behind building himself an army was that, when they spent some time under him and working with (for) him, his subordinates would develop some kind of respect and wouldn't backstab him every time the opportunity presented itself.

That would of course have been very hollow-like, but it wasn't what he was looking for. No what he wanted was loyalty.

Even though he had only started it two weeks ago, he was already starting to think that his army idea was a dead end, since he didn't find a single person of significant individuality, until that one normal hollow had dug through the ground of the second layer.

He had not been special , but when Bainne had started pressuring him (at first for fun admittedly), he had displayed some interesting feats. After Bainne had thrown him out of the underground, he went up there himself, only to notice that the distance, which the other hollow had already built up between them, should not have been nearly this big.

Additionaly, he had only sustained mild injuries, compared to what other hollows had looked like after Bainne had thrown them like a ragdoll.

The most impressive feat however was the speed at which he had openend a Garganta. It was almost in the blink of an eye ad before Bainne could reach it it had already closed again.

Bainne had quickly opened his own Garganta and picked up his Reiatsu. He didn`t even think about where he was going until he realized it when he exited his Garganta.

The human world.

Home of the legendary Shinigami substitute Ichigo Kurosaki. Panic had quickly taken over with that realization and the only course of action was retreat.

He couldn't afford to die.

He didn`t lose the hollow however.

He had perceived his actions while residing hueco mundo and had patiently waited for an opportunity to lure him back. He could have just gone there and grab him, but he did not want to risk him getting away. With that Bainne`s stay in the human world would have already been too long and all the residents who hunted hollows would have been alarmed.

So he waited. And waited. He waited until the ooprtunity had come, a pleasant situation where the subject of his interest was in peril once again, so blinded by fear that he didn`t even begin to think things through. He just walked straight into the Garganta that Bainne had opened for him.

And now there he was again.

Looking at him with complete and utter panic.

Bainne restrained himself not to ooze with bloodlust this time, for what he had in mind his opposite needed to be somewhat at ease.

"Well, hello again", Bainne started with a less aggressive tone.

Nothing. The hollow just stared at him.

_This is gonna be a lot of work, if I really want to get this done,_ he sighed internally.

If he was already petrified at Bainne just being around what would he do if someone stronger showed up?

"I think we got off the wrong foot here", he continued. "Seeing as you`re not going anywhere, i`m going to take this time and tell you something about me and then i`m going to propose an offer to you."

Still no reaction. Bainne sighed. He was trying his best to appear as not threatening, or at least give a non-threatening vibe, seeing as the former was rather difficult given his outer appearance.

He was getting a bit unnerved, since he was used to things working when he wanted them to.

"In other words", he said in a bit more aggressive tone: "you can ease up, i`m not going to do anything to you

_Yet, _he added in thought.

And finally his opposite spoke. "Not gonna do anything? What happened to `we`re the last thing you`ll ever see`? Because i`m kinda confused. First you say you`ll kill me, then you say you won`t; I mean just pick a statement and stand by it, because right now, mind you, i simply don`t have the nerves to put up with shit like this. So to clear things up: Are you gonna kill me or not? Because if you are, get on with it already."

_Hot damn. Once he picks his balls off the ground, he can actually have a pretty big mouth_. _Maybe this won`t be such a pain after all,_ Bainne thought to himself.

"Alright, the scaredy-cat can talk", he responded in a mocking tone. "You got a name big shot?"

"Setsuzo."

"Well then Setsuzo. Allow me to lay bare my intentions", Bainne said with a sweeping gesture.

"I`m not gonna stretch this out any longer than I have to. I am trying to build something for myself. What that is doesn`t really matter to you. What does matter is that after seeing you in action, i`d like you to be a part of the army that I need in order to realize my ambitions."

"Really?"

"Really."

"What`s in it for me?"

"I can train you, make you strong; you`d be one of the commanding forces of my army."

"Why would I want that?"

"Why wouldn`t you? We live in a cruel world where the strong thrive upon the weak. More power is never a mistake, nor is it something anyone should refuse if presented with it."

"And if I do refuse?"

"Do you remember how our first conversation went?", Bainne said with a joking tone.

"First you hang out `Mr. Nice Guy`, which ain`t really fooling me after our last encounter and if you don`t get what you want, you… `convince` me with an argument I can`t possibly refuse? If I were you, i`d refresh my knowledge on the whole `recruitement` thing. And change the face, because for the love of god, no one will buy your `holy saint`-act", Setsuzo said with cynical bite.

"So I can take that as a yes?", Bainne asked in a tone that did not really leave room for a `no`, overlooking the insult since, well, the kid did kind of have a point. He also didn`t want to stretch out the… "negotiations" any further, because if his opposite would mouth off some more, he would lose his temper and cut his goddamn head off his shoulders.

Setsuzo sighed. "I basically have no other choice, do I."

* * *

**Author's notes:**

Another one done. I do apologize for the recent lack of an update, i had some trouble with my Computer and i also had to overcome a little block to write the later chapters. Something you gotta understand is that i write 4 to 5 chapters ahead in order to be able to avoid inconsistencies. When i write something that doesn't match with something i wrote before, i can either correct it and i don't have to correct the online Version which is confusing for you People or i can go back and Change it up, because the new idea i've come up with is actually better than the one before. Also the later chapters are getting longer and longer so while the ones coming out are still between around 2000 - 3000 words, the ones i'm currently writing are around 3000 - 5000 words.

If you`ve got your own opinion, PM me, or, better yet, review the Story. I`ll always welcome constructive criticism.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Renovation lessons

Makoto was standing next to his pupil with a wide smile on his face. "Just like that, keep it up. Let it flow", he instructed her.

They had relocated their Reiatsu training into the dojo, so they had some peace and quiet, since people kept flipping them off when they were outside.

She had finally done it after just one week. The girl was a natural. It had taken her 6 days in total and she had already started to release Reiatsu on command. And that was only yesterday.

She was on a completely different level now. Where as the day before she was only able to release her Reiatsu in somewhat controlled bursts, now she was able to do so in a controlled and steady flow.

She had a strained, but statisfied look on her face and managed a smile. "Not much longer and I`ll let you eat my dust", her tone and expression were somewhat joking, but challenging as well.

Makoto smiled to himself and thought of the progress Kiara had to make to actually fight seriously with him. The ridiculous amount that he ended up with tempted him to tell his pupil, if only to get a chuckle out the face she`d make, but decided not to, since that would only bring up questions after questions.

So he just kept smiling and responded with: "Well, if you think so we can call it a day right now and put that theory of yours to the test."

His grin must have taken a more devious direction than he intended, because her smile vanished and she lost her concentration, resulting her flow of released Reiatsu to peter out.

"Ah damn it", she cursed. She closed her eyes, most likely to once again picture the image that helped her release her Spiritual pressure.

Maybe her concetration wasn`t the real deal yet, but she had already made huge progress. Makoto had assumed it would take her a week to get to where she was on the first day of their training.

Instead, she straight up tanked his schedule by one-upping herself every day. On their second day, she had already found her inner power, her Reiryouku.

On the third she had found out how she could shut off her outlets and through that how to suppress her Reiatsu. Normally it was the other way around and releasing ones Spiritual pressure was learned first, but that was just another clue at how different Kiara was.

On the fourth she had, after a lot of effort, released her first controlled Reiatsu burst.

On the fifth she released them regularly.

On the sixth, she could hold them upright for smaller amounts of time and now, on the seventh, she already figured out how to regulate the flow.

If he wouldn`t have been so proud, he`d be scared by how fast she was progressing.

"Your form is not bad, and you`re picking up things fast, i gotta give you that, but your concentration is laughable. You can`t lose focus during a fight just because someone startled you."

"I know", she responded disgruntled. Her flow of Reiatsu slowly started to stream again. "Give me another week and i won`t have that problem anymore."

"Oho, someone is sure of herself."

"You wanna bet?", she looked at him provocatively.

"Well, i`m usually not much of a betting man, but i think i can make an exception this time", he answered.

"Fine. I bet you that in one weeks time, i`ll have what it takes to keep up my focus, no matter what happens."

"I`ll take that bet. It actually suits my schedule. Now you can surprise me when i get back."

The flow of Reiatsu dropped again and Kiara looked at him irritated. "You`re already going again? But you`ve only been here for a week", she lamented.

First, he gave her a sceptic look until she realized that she had lost control once more. She pouted somewhat embarrassed and closed her eyes again. Then he started speaking.

"Yeah, sorry kid, but what i do is important and unfortunately, important things require time. Sometimes, i`d rather stay here, but when duty calls, well, duty calls."

"What is it that you do that is so damn important that you are always gone?", she asked, after she maintained control again.

He waited a bit and thought his answer over before he spoke. "Some of it is helping the people in the lower districts and reestablish some order and the other part is… well you`re not yet ready for that one."

"What do you mean by that?"

"In time, you`ll know. When you`re strong enough, i`ll give you an explanation and maybe even take you with me. Until then, you stay here and train."

"You do know that you gotta think of a better answer than `In time, you`ll know`, 'cause i`ll tell you right now; that`s gonna get real old real fast."

"It won`t if you don`t ask every 5 minutes", he responded with a smirk.

"I won`t if you don`t leave every 5 minutes", she countered with a pouting expression.

"We both know that yours is exaggeration to the max and mine is pretty accurate."

She was about to reply with a snarky comment, but bit her tongue before she started talking, most likely because she knew he was right.

"Seriously though, why do you have to go that often? I can understand that it takes some time to get there and get back here, but you still leave a lot more then when you started tutoring me."

He looked at her and slowly, a self-statisfied smirk found it`s way onto his face. "In time, you`ll know", he said with a gloating tone.

The way she grimaced at that comment was golden.

ooo

Kiara had had enough. Without dropping her focus, she walked over to the stand that held the exercise swords, grabbed 2 Bokken and threw one at Makoto.

He caught it without even twitching a muscle.

"Now that`s a new one, are you- are you actually volunteering for Zandatsu-practice?", he said with a fake disbelieving tone.

She didn`t respond to his little jab and took her stance, while increasing her Reiatsu-output. She didn`t exactly know how much it would boost her fighting capabilities, but if what Makoto told her was the truth, then simply raising one's own Spiritual pressure should have some effect.

He dropped his fake disbelief and dawned a more intrigued expression. He also took a stance and returned her piercing gaze.

Like always they slowly started circling eachother, until Kiara made a sudden halt, causing him to stop as well. Then, without any further ado, she let out a battle cry and charged towards him, her blade raised high up in the air, ready to strike from above.

At least that`s what was supposed to happen.

What actually happened was him making a simple sidestep, clearing the way between Kiara and the dojo wall, which she almost crashed into. But that wasn`t possible. The dojo was at least 20 meters wide and long and she made one little jump from the _middle_ of it.

So the only conclusion was… that she just cleared a distance of 10 meters in an instant with a single leap.

"See, that`s why i wanted to wait with combining those 2 practices", he said with a slightly scolding tone. "I'm surprised you didn`t actually tear down the wall."

"You knew this could happen and still didn`t even try to attempt to stop me? Also; tear down the wall?", she responded a little dumbfounded.

"Yup. I know i did, when i started to prematurely use both practices at the same time. I actually blew three holes in the walls and even one in the ceiling. And before you ask; no i don`t know how that last one happened, because when it did, i was already a little foggy from my attempts at dojo-renovation. Thinking back i gotta say myself that i was pretty out of it, hence the hole in the ceiling."

He snickered a little to himself before he went on to answer her other question. "So yes, i knew it would happen and i didn't stop you for 3 reasons: First, failure is still the best teacher. I know it's a pain in the ass, but you learn best when you make mistakes. Second, i wanted to see if you actually remembered that i said we will wait until you have proper control, but as we just saw, that still requires _a lot_ of work. Third i wanted to see how fast your reflexes were when something goes wrong. From the looks of it, your instincts are excellent. I don`t think you quite realized why _exactly_ you didn't follow my example of creating more than one entrance to the inside of a building", he concluded.

At first, she didn't know what he meant until she noticed that her Bokken was stuck in the ground and her hand was clinching so hard around its grip that her knuckles were starting to get white. She must have rammed it into the floor when she had sent herself flying across the room.

"What-?", she started confused.

"A little quirk of yours that you, for some reason, haven't noticed yet. You always say that you're bad at fighting and that you never learn anything. It`s quite the opposite really", he lectured her.

"You`re one of the biggest copycats i`ve ever seen. That move you just performed? That's one of the moves lieutenant Ikkaku Madarame likes to use when he`s thrown back, in order to either prevent a fall or to stop dead in his tracks in order to prevent a collision with something. I`ve been watching over your little skirmishes with the other squadmembers lately, whenever i had the time and you even performed this move once or twice before, though never with that speed or proficiency", he continued.

"But i've only seen the lieutenant fight for 5 or 6 times", she replyed baffled.

"Exactly. Seeing as how you've been able to do way better this time than the other few, i think that little copycat-quirk of yours could be amplified when you use your Reiatsu. You couldn`t possibly notice from the outside, but when you release your Spiritual pressure, you let it come out in a burst, letting it flare up first and then you start to regulate it. Because you've seen me do it that way", he ended his lecture.

"Pay a little attention to that detail and let's see what you can make out of it. That would be another thing for you to train while i'm gone."

He signaled her to move back up to the fighting grounds and continued while she tried to rip her Bokken out of the floor.

"Oh and one more thing. You", he pointed at her, while she was still trying to get the sword out, "are not bad at fighting. You just compare yourself to me and you think because you can't beat me, you're weak. Always remember that i do hold the 4th seat in this division and not without reason."

Kiara was starting to get annoyed by the fact that her Bokken _still _wouldn't budge. So she closed her eyes again, visualized her image and connected it to her inner power. In a burst she opened the blocks that held back her well and let the power flow, then she regulated it to a moderate and steady stream.

She did that so she would have a standard and not overdo things. Slowly she opened the blocks again, bit by bit, until she was statisfied with the output. Then she opened her eyes and gave the sword in the ground a decent nudge. It came out with surprising ease. After that she dialed back on her output again, which took more time than she liked. Then she got back up to the fighting ground.

Makoto gave her a skeptic look and asked: "Did you hear the last few things i said?"

"Wait you said some more?"

"Yeah, that's what i thought. Anyway, we'll wait with training both practices simultaneously until you have proper control", he said.

"But i do have proper control", she complained, and wailed around with her arms to show the obvious aura she was emitting.

He simply pointed to the hole in the ground and argumented: "If you call that proper control, then i'm the Soul King."

"Come on", she kept pressing.

"Give me a reason. A _good _reason", he quickly added before she could sport a witty response.

"If we don't practice it now, i might do something stupid while you're gone", she said with a daring tone.

"Well, that would be your own damn fault, since i told you not to and you just saw what happens when you try to do it anyway", he countered.

"You're the only one who can teach me that kind of stuff", was her next argument.

"Wrong", he countered once again. "I'm by far not the only one. 3rd seat Yumichika and lieutenant Madarame can do that just as well."

"If you don't teach me now, i'll only have boring stuff to focus on during the next week", she continued.

"And i have yet to hear of a case where somebody died because of that", he dryly replied.

"Do you consider bribe?"

"You couldn't meet my price."

She let out a little wail and then asked: "Damn it, can't I at least have it for this one round? I need something to give me a little edge against you, or else the end result will always be the same", she pleaded.

He sighed, but ended up saying: "Alright, if you can keep it steady at your current level, we can try. For this one time only. But another spike like before and we'll wait until i get back."

**(Bleach OST 4 Track 7: Can't lose)**

Excited, she took her stance. Finally, she would be a little closer to evening out the planefield. At first he was just Standing there, but eventually took his own stance.

She realized that something was different this time. His eyes had a certain glare to them. Then, he did something unexpected. He took his left hand off of his sword grip and put it behind his back. She wasn't sure what he was planning to do, but she wouldn't let an opportunity like this slip away.

She charged towards him again, more careful and in a zigzag-like pattern.

When she reached him, she was coming towards him from left to right, so she swung her sword horizontally in the same direction on the height of his waist. All he did was putting his sword on hers when it had almost made contact, using it as support and lifted himself over her sword.

After that she felt a quick jab on the side of her knee, that made her lose stability in it, to which she buckled onto it and what followed was a vertical slash from bottom to top that aimed for her arms, which she managed to block. Surprisingly there was not as much force behind it as she thought.

They were both locked in contact for a short while until she broke free and backed off a little bit to gain some distance.

Both fighters mustered each other fiercely. Kiara took a deep breath and tried to calm down to refresh her focus. Her Spiritual pressure was still on the same level. Good.

She looked at her opponent again with full attention on potential weaknesses. Apart from the fact that he was only holding his sword with one hand, she couldn't find much. His feet were well aligned, his knees slightly bent and his upper body was tense but not cramped.

Suddenly she knew her next plan of attack and with no further waste of time she changed her stance, holding the grip of her sword at the height of her face while the blade pointed a bit towards the floor.

Once again she charged at him, this time straight ahead and as soon as she reached him, moved a little to her right at the very last instant and attempted a sting attack onto his upper body.

Before her blade even bypassed his, he made a step to his right side with his left foot, which was further behind than his right, slightly turning his upper body in one Motion on his right foot and redirected her attack away from him, all while their weapons maintained contact.

Next, he let his blade slide across hers and directed his counterattack towards her face. Although she managed to dodge, the strike missed her only by millimeters.

But now was her opening. She pulled her sword back towards her and attempted another stingattack, but Makoto simply avoided it with a simple backstep, turned his blade around and launched another strike attack against her.

Again she managed to dodge, by throwing herself to her right side and rolling on the floor to dampen the fall. She quickly got up, expecting him to rush at her and exploit her lack of a stance, but to her surprise, he was still where he was standing before she evaded his last attack. In the same stance as before.

Something was strange. His attacks were slower and weaker, which was to be expected since he only wielded his weapon with one hand. At the same time though, they were much more precise and aimed.

Since he didn't seem like he would attack her, she took another moment to concentrate and even her output once more. It had gotten smaller during her last exchange of blows. Keeping it at a steady level during a fight proved much more difficult than she had thought.

In the morning, she had managed to hold it upright for about 20 minutes before she had to take a quick break. Now, they haven't even fought for two minutes and she was already having serious trouble. She would have to put it all into her next attack, because she knew that she would lose her focus after, or worse, during it.

Once again she took her normal fighting stance.

_Damn it._

This was her chance to finally get a hit on him, since for the first time, she had an advantage. And she still didn't even land a scratch. All or nothing, that's what she had to do now.

_Ah, screw it_.

If this was her last swing, she might as well do something ridiculous. She readied herself and charged towards him once more.

This time she used her additional strength to jump in the air and leap over him, trying to land a hit mid-air. She jumped about 3 meters in front of him, turned in the air and was planning to land behind him after her slash but she didn't even make it that far.

While she was turning, he suddenly put both hands onto his sword, reached up, shoved his blade between her arms and locked it onto the swordgrip. Then, without any mercy, he practically catapulted her towards the ground and that was the end of that.

* * *

**Author's notes:**

Damn, found _a lot_ of grammar mistakes in this one when i proofread it. Bet there are still some in there, for which i do apologize, but again: English. Not my maiden language. Otherwise i don't have a lot to say about this chapter except maybe a few words regarding Kiara. Some of you may be worried that she'll be a Mary Sue. Well, i'm here to destroy these worries people, because she is anything but. She just got the hang of using her Reiatsu fast, that's all. As for her copy-cat quirk: Well that's some set-up, for things to come, but maybe not in the way you might think.

If you`ve got your own opinion, PM me, or, better yet, review the Story. I`ll always welcome constructive criticism.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Beginning of an army

Setsuzo evaded the incoming swing attack and countered by burying his right hand deep in his enemys stomach. With his left hand, he grabbed his opponents head, lifted him up and smashed him down on the ground.

It had been a week since he "accepted" Bainne's offer to join him. Since then, all he had been doing was killing and devouring other hollows.

Bainne knew this place in and out and guided Setsuzo towards opponents to defeat, in hopes that he would find more participants for his army. His method was to pitch Setsuzo against any other hollow that came across or dared to challenge them. If he could hold his own, he would be offered to join.

That had never come to pass though, since Setsuzo pretty much annihilated everyone he fought. After that, he devoured them, through which his strength was ever growing.

Bainne had told him how things would happen from now on.

First, he had to keep devouring other hollows so he could gather enough strength for his next step. That was when he was gathered with hundreds of other hollows who were like him, who had the drive to evolve. Next, he had to merge with those hollows and assert his individuality by eradicating the consciousness of every other hollow he merged with.

If he failed to do that, he would lose himself and technically die by becoming just another mindless Gillian. However, by some mysterious reason Bainne was convinced that this would not happen to Setsuzo.

After he had become a Gillian, he would just have to continue to devour other Gillians until he evolved once again into an Adjuchas, the state Bainne was currently in.

He didn't know what came after that, Bainne hadn't told him, since he should focus on becoming a Gillian first, then worry about anything else later.

With all that in mind he dug into his newest victiom and started to consume him, bite after bite. He made it easier for himself to set free his devouring instinct and let it take over for a bit.

After he was done, he got back on his feet and looked around to find Bainne. He was sitting somewhere behind Setsuzo and watched him do his work. He always held a certain distance to the fight. Far away enough to give Setsuzo enough room to work on one hand, not too far away, so he could still intervene if he wanted to on the other.

Not that he would, at least not to save him. Setsuzo never confirmed that suspicion, but he had a strong hunch that he didn't need to.

From the get-go, he knew that Bainne was using him for his own purpose and would cast him aside as soon as he wasn't useful anymore. That being said, having gotten that offer from Bainne was somewhat of a blessing in disguise. He could have just as well killed Setsuzo for fun.

Then again, Setsuzo would have rather not know Bainne at all, yet here he was.

He turned around to his boss and asked: "Where to next?"

To that, the Adjuchas chuckled, a sound Setsuzo still hadn't gotten used to, and answered: "Choose for yourself. You can feel them in front of you, can you not?"

Without further conversation Setsuzo turned around and closed his eyes.

He never talked more to Bainne than he had to. They might have been acquaintances now, but he still freaked him out. Bainne was surpressing his Reiatsu the whole time, so other hollows wouldn't be scared off by his killing intent, but Setsuzo still felt it, lingering under that calm surface.

He closed his eyes and directed his senses on the general area in front of him. It wasn't long until he found something, but immediately dismissed it, since it was basically canonfodder to him.

He wanted a challenge for a change. On the surface above, fights might have been scarce, but they were the real deal and not this excuse of a brawl he just had.

He found another target, but it didn't differ much from the last, so he ignored it as well. He took a deep breath and reached out more. He found a few weaklings more until something caught his interest.

There was a small difference to a low spiritual pressure and a surpressed one. Both felt small and insignificant at first glance, but if one lingered a bit on it they would notice a distinction. A weakling's signature felt rough and wild, while a surpressed signature felt more… smooth and polished.

It was comparable to this: when just glancing over it, one would simply pick up the size of the Reiatsu, but not its form. Only when examined further, one could determine that both were the same size, but one felt like a straw, while the other felt like a needle.

And just now, Setsuzo had found a needle in the haystack. He started to move towards it, slow and cautious. It was about a hundred meters away from his position.

When he had covered about half of that distance, the signature started moving.

_Shit, he's onto me._

Setsuzo quickly picked up the pace and started closing in on his target. That was, until the signature suddenly flared up and started gaining some distance.

_Fuck, _he thought to himself. That way, he would never catch up. Just as he was about to release his spiritual pressure himself, Bainne suddenly passed him with overwhelming speed, in the same direction.

It didn't take long until Bainne had caught up with Setsuzo's target and both came to a halt. Setsuzo maximized his output and picked up even more speed until he reached the two.

The pursued individual was standing between him and Bainne, as the latter had cut off his escape route.

"Would you look at that, you finally found a good one", Bainne cackled. "And what might your name be?", he asked.

"Necron", the individual answered. "Necron Raiba."

"You see that Setsuzo? He didn't have to almost shit himself to talk", Bainne bickered to Setsuzo in a mocking voice. The latter bit his tongue, since he knew that no matter what his retort was, it would not do him any good.

The Adjuchas spoke again, this time a bit more bossy. "As fun as it is, let's put the banter aside, time to get to work."

It may not have been a direct command, but Setsuzo knew when he was spoken to, so he started to make his move and flared his Reiatsu a bit to get his opponents attention.

It worked perfectly, for his enemy turned around and directed his focus towards Setsuzo. The latter didn't waste any time and went in for a full on charge towards his opposite.

**(Bleach OST 2 Track 18: Back to the Wall)**

He formed a fist with his right hand and aimed for the stomach. Raiba however was quick to react and countered the punch with one of his own. Another punch aiming for Setsuzos face followed suit which he only narrowly managed to dodge.

With his left arm he grabbed Raiba's and tried to pull him closer so he could throw him over his shoulder. He succeeded and Raiba landed roughly behind Setsuzo on his back. He didn't take long to get back up though and by the time Setsuzo had turned around he was already back on his feet.

Now he made an attack and leaped towards Setsuzo, trying to land a drop-kick. Setsuzo reacted without hesitation, flared up his Spiritual pressure and, with the additional boost in power, grabbed Raiba mid-air, holding his legs firm and tight. Then, he used the latter's momentum to swing him around a few times and throw him towards the closest tree in their vicinity.

Statisfied, Setsuzo watched Raiba crash into it with full force. His small victory didn't last long however, as he felt his enemys spiritual pressure flare up as well and out of the smoke of the crashed tree, he emerged with alarming speed. Setsuzo got ready and expected another assault on his head, but Raiba went to the ground moments before he reached Setsuzo. He slithered a bit, until he suddenly put his hands on the floor and attacked with a kick from below.

Setsuzo was too slow this time and could neither evade nor block, so he took the full force of the attack to his stomach and was thrown back several meters on his back.

Coughing and gasping for air he got back up on his knees, readying himself for any more incoming attacks.

What followed next was another assault on his face that he evaded by rolling to his left. Raiba rushed past him, stopped dead in his tracks and turned around, continuing his attacks, but Setsuzo had recovered from his previous shock and also charged towards his opponent, ducked under a swing and grabbed Raibas upper body, slamming him into another tree.

The latter struggled to get free and landed several blows on Setsuzos back, but he didn't let go, instead he turned around and threw him into the air, raised his Spiritual pressure with a battle cry and buried his fist deep in his opponents stomach.

Raiba grunted in pain, but after a few moments he grit his teeth and his Spiritual pressure spiked as well. He grabbed Setsuzos wrist and aimed for his elbow, most likely to bend his arm the other way and render it useless.

Setsuzo countered with the new skill he had developed over the course of the last week and ejected a blade from his forearm that reached a little further back than his elbow. He still sustained some damage, but most of the attacks force was dampened due to Raibas sudden attempt to stop his fist, but he had punched with too much force and still cut up his fingers.

And yet, he still managed to lift himself off Setsuzo's fist and throw himself a safe distance away.

"Didn't know we were fighting dirty", he panted. It was the first time he talked to Setsuzo directly. His voice didn't seem that hostile though. In fact, it appeared as if he was rather enjoying his current situation, despite the fact that he was at a huge disadvantage, both in fighting power and numbers, since he had suffered more damage than he had dished out.

"I don't recall ever having said something about fighting fair and square either", he replied with a smile. Damn it, he was enjoying this too.

**(Bleach OST 4 Track 14: Pleasures of Combat)**

Both fighters locked eyecontact and met the others gaze with joyous ferocity and then simultaneously maxed their Reiatsu output. It appeared as though for both of them it had been some time since they had the opportunity of enjoying a real fight.

This time Raiba was the first one to make his move and charged towards Setsuzo, while the latter took his fighting position and awaited the incoming attack.

Shortly before Raiba reached him he performed a cartwheel with the intention to hit Setsuzo with some serious momentum behind his kick. Setsuzo had expected something like that and his arms where already up in blocking position. Adding to that was his cruel bonus of having a blade attached to his right arm.

When the two limbs made contact however, no blood was spilled, but a high-pitched ringing sound was generated. Setsuzo was confused until he took a glance at his opponent's leg. It was not its usual color anymore, but it was encased in a white substance.

_He can use some kind of hardening. This fight is getting better by the second._

Setsuzo was by no means an adrenaline-loving fight-addict, but he enjoyed being pushed to his limit with a chance but not a certainty to grasp victory. For instance; he'd never get any joy out of fighting someone like Bainne, because the outcome was predictable.

Against someone like Raiba however, who was about the same strength as he was, he couldn't help but smile.

"You're not really the honest type yourself", Setsuzo commented as they both struggeled to push the other away.

"Never said I was", Raiba quipped back.

They kept pushing until Setsuzo came up with an idea and instead of keeping up the resistance, moved to the side and gave way to his opponent's leg all in one fluent motion. Then he used Raibas momentum, grabbed his head and slammed him into the ground with full force, however the latter reacted quickly and prevented the fall by putting his hands on the ground.

He pushed himself of the ground and managed to land another clean hit on Setsuzos stomach, but didn't stop there. He continued with a small onslaught of punches until he knocked Setsuzo away. Gritting his teeth, he tried to ignore the pain that was splattered across his whole upper body and landed on his feet.

With a furious scream he ran at Raiba with full speed, who was caught off guard, since he didn't expect Setsuzo to make such a quick recovery.

He practically ran him over and tumbled him to the ground, where they both fought for the top and Raiba ended up winning. Just as he was about to wind up to a fatal blow, Setsuzo ejected another blade from the top of his wrist that was about as long as his forearm and tried to slice up Raibas upper body, while the latter aimed to shatter Setsuzos head with his attack.

Just as both were about to give eachother a serious injury, they froze in place as the third hollow in the area displayed a sudden and violent murderous rage by releasing his surpressed spiritual pressure.

Raiba was more affected than Setsuzo, since the former never had the displeasure of being in Bainnes presence.

Setsuzo managed to shake him off and built up some distance without harming him any further. If Bainne was interfering, he knew exactly what that meant.

"Well, that was quite entertaining I gotta give you that", the Adjuchas commented. "I have to say I'm really impressed. I've watched Setsuzo take apart hollow after hollow since we started our partnership", Setsuzo scoffed at that last word but it was barely noticeable, "but you are the first one to actually hold your own and even injure him. For that I'm gonna make you an offer. You see, I'm building an army, you don't really need to know why yet, that comes later maybe. All you gotta know is that I'd like you to be a part of it."

"And if I refuse?", Raiba immediately shot back a little provocative.

"Setsuzo, if you would please", Bainne said with a mocking tone.

"If you refuse", Setsuzo said with a warning in his voice, "then he will continue where I left off. Basically, he's gonna play you a bit and then he will kill you, that's the point. Either you join him or you die, you don't really have a choice here."

"I wouldn't have said it like that", Bainne responded with a slightly angry glance at Setsuzo (_Then why did you ask me in the first place?)_, "but that's the gist of it. Now what's your answer?", he asked while looking at Raiba.

He was still a little tense after having felt such a murderous aura and one could clearly see the moroseness on his face, but he agreed.

"Fine, if I don't have any other choice anyway, I'm in."

"Really? Just like that?", Bainne asked a little surprised.

"Would it change anything if I would try to bargain?", Raiba asked with a sarcastic tone.

"No, it certainly would not", Bainne concluded.

"Alright that's that I guess. So how does this work? Where's the rest of your grand army, or is it just the three of us? And where is our base of operations, our fortress?", Raiba immeadiately asked.

_He doesn't waste time by talking around the point, that's for sure,_ Setsuzo thought to himself. An army was really good and all, but Raiba brought up some very important questions. Bainne could continue to walk around and gather stronger hollows who had a sense of individuality, but it would take a long time to gather enough so that he can go through with his plan to make them all Adjuchas.

Then there was the other very good question of a base of operations. At a certain point, if they would actually make it this far, Bainnes army would become too large to constantly move around. They'd basically be a nomad-army and while the idea was interesting it was faulty to the point where it just wouldn't work.

He kept all of that to himself however, since he wanted to wait out Bainne's reaction to these questions. And he was surprised.

"Yes it's just the three of us", Bainne stated bluntly, "and as for a base of operations, I already have a few locations in mind, but we have to check them out first and see what we can build. We're actually on our way to visit one."

Setsuzo didn't expect that kind of response. They spent the last seven week on moving into one direction and Bainne had never told him why, which made him seem like he didn't actually have a plan. Setsuzo had also gotten the feeling that Bainne's plan of an army was kind of rushed and unorganized, but as it just turned out, he had been wrong.

From the looks of it, Raiba didn't expect that kind of response either. Before, he had spoken in a scornfully and didn't take it seriously, but now he seemed genuinely interested.

"What's the endgoal of all this? Why do you recruit lower hollows like us and don't go looking for some Gillians that possess some kind of individuality?"

Again, some pretty important questions.

"The endgoal is something I'll tell you when you're an Adjuchas like me. As for the Gillians… well let's say when I said it's just the three of us I meant we're the only ones who can properly use their brain."

Somewhere in the distance, both lower hollows noticed a sudden spike in Spiritual pressure.

"You see, as an Adjuchas, you have the ability to control the Gillians. Over the past week I reached out a bit and all in all, I'm controlling about 50 Gillians now. But they're only good for two things. First, for me to control them and support me and possibly you in battle. Second, once you two become Gillians you can feast on them and advance faster as if you were on your own. Also they are horrible company."

"You keep talking about us turning into Adjuchas. What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what he's saying", Setsuzo intervened. "He wants an army and a strong one at that. The reason why he's looking for hollows like us with their own sense of self is because he wants an army of Adjuchas, so he's going to, let's say, help us a Little advance in that direction."

Bainne simply pointed at Setsuzo and clapped his hands, meaning to say that this was exactly what he was thinking.

Raiba looked around between the two and finally said: "Alright, now you really have my interest. So where do we go from here?"

"Further north-", he aprubtly stopped and raised his head to look at the ceiling. "Hold that thought, I'll be right back." With these words he jumped towards the ceiling and broke through it in one go.

Raiba turned around and looked at Setsuzo confused, but before he could ask, Setsuzo already answered: "Dude, I am just as clueless as you are. He's done that twice over the past week and never told me why."

While he was talking, the 50 something Gillian slowly made their approach. They moved close to one another and spread out to build a circle as soon as they had reached the two lower hollows. Then, they all raised their heads towards the ceiling, every Gillian in a slightly different angle and opened their mouths.

"So what is his endgoal really?", Raiba asked Setsuzo.

"I have no goddamn idea", the latter replied. "He told me just as much as he told you. All I know is that he wants an army like that dude from about 6 years ago, what was his name again?"

"Sousuke Aizen?"

"Yeah, that guy. So like I said he-"

"Wait, are you telling me that you've never heard of him?"

"I did hear of him", Setsuzo answered, "but not a lot. Two or three times tops."

"Have you been living under a rock?", Raiba exclaimed.

"I woke up as a hollow three and a half months ago and I had lost all of my memories. Plus, I woke up on the upper level", he pointed towards the ceiling, "so if anything I've been living above a rock", Setsuzo stated bluntly.

"Okay first of, you gotta work on your wordplays, 'cause that was bad."

"Realized it the moment I said it", Setsuzo admitted.

"And second off, WHAT?", Raiba exclaimed again. "You've been a hollow for three months and you're this strong already? You sure you didn't just lose your memory by courtesy of a punch to the face?"

"Pretty sure. Three months ago I was about as strong as this guy over there", Setsuzo answered and pointed in the direction of a random hollow, which he was sure Raiba could feel as well.

"Damn. I've been a hollow for three years, but I'm only getting stronger in baby steps."

"Makes sense. The hollows down here are so weak, they're practically canon fodder. Up there, not so much. Anyway", he continued, "Bainne wants an army like that Aizen guy had. So I'm guessing that, at some point, he wants us to become Arrancars. As to why he wants an army like that beats me. To be honest I can't really read this guy. I 'joined' his army about the same way you did."

"Arrancars, huh? Does he know how to do that?"

"No idea", Setsuzo answered.

"So if we run we're fucked", Raiba concluded, "if he has any plans for us that would cause us to die, we're also fucked. And if we don't cooperate-"

"We are also fucked", Setsuzo ended his sentence. "No matter how you look at it, he's got us by the balls. We have no other choice but to roll along for the ride."

"Well shit", Raiba said baffled after some time. "Either i've made a really good or an incredibly dumb decision here."

"That's exactly what I thought a week ago. We can only decide in the long run"

"If there is a long run", Raiba added. "In any case, since he's not here right now, wanna pick it up where we left?", he said daringly with a provocative glance.

"Would be a nice change of pace, but I don't think he would be so fond of that."

"What, you think he gives a shit? About us?"

"No, but I think he gives a shit about his armys size and he wouldn't like it if I kill the newcomer that we just took in", Setsuzo responded in a similarly pugnacious way.

"Is that a challenge?", Raiba gnarled with a belligerent smile.

Before Setsuzo could reply something, two enormous Spiritual pressures practically exploded above them and all the Gillians around them started to charge their Ceros. The signatures above them were flaring crazy and both were oozing with murderous rage. Suddenly, one after another, the Gillian started to fire their Cero into the ceiling.

Setsuzo and Raiba looked at eachother and both had the same thought crossing their mind.

_If we stay, we'll be crushed andthus, also fucked._

And with that, both turned around and ran like hell.

ooo

"Did you think you can hide!?", Bainne yelled at his opponent after having blocked his incoming attack.

Over the past two weeks he had always had this feeling that he was observed by someone. He had been right. While Setsuzo and Raiba had been fighting, Bainnes focus had been on them and on his Gillian. So when he flared up his spiritual pressure to get those two to stop, he almost didn't notice the Reiatsu that was spiking above him. Almost.

While talking to Raiba, he had homed in on his enemys signature and wanted to surprise him by jumping straight through the floor of the second layer, but to no effect. So, after getting to the next floor, he left himself wide open for an attack and his opponent took the bait.

"Thought I'd catch you off guard. Worked out great last time if I remember correctly", his foe replied mocklingly.

"Yeah, you got lucky. Ain't gonna work this time, I can promise you that you little fucker", Bainne hissed.

Of all the hollows Bainne had fought, Nark was one of the nastiest ones. It wasn't that he was particularily strong, but he was clever. He was also in possession of an ability to lay out Reiatsu-type traps that were somehow not noticeable until one activated them.

Surely, Nark had already put up some really agitating ones. This time though, Bainne wouldn't even need to move so much as a muscle.

"Oh my god, you're so hilarious when you're pissed", Nark bickered. He got out of his hiding place and revealed himself. He was about the same height as Bainne, but way slimmer. His legs were animalistic, just like Bainnes and his arms were proportionally way too long. Even when Nark stood upright, his Arms still reached the ground.

His body was of a bleak grey shade and his spine grew spikes out of his back, while his mask was abnormally long.

"Let's do this like last time, wadda ya say?", he continued.

"Sorry, not sorry to disappoint you. This won't be like last time."

"Oh you don't say. And why is that, if ya don' mind me askin'?"

**(Bleach OST 1 Track 8: Raw Breath of Danger)**

"Because this time", Bainne said and released his spiritual pressure, to which Nark responded with the same, "I brought back-up."

With these words, he commanded all the Gillians beneath him to fire a Cero to where Nark was at the moment. The latter seemed to realize what was about to happen, but it was already too late. Several Ceros pierced through the ground and hit him in various places.

Bainne thought he had accounted for the grounds instability, but appearantly 50 Ceros at once concentrated in one spot were still a bit much. They both came crashing down and while Bainne managed to break his fall and land somewhat safe, Nark fell down like a rock.

Bainne rushed towards his position after he had landed and buried his fist deep in his opponent's chest. Nark gasped and coughed up some blood before he looked at Bainne and said with a voice drenched in hatred: "You motherfucker. How did you hide so many of them suckers?"

"I didn't even hide them, that's the Point, You just suck at sensing, that's it. So much so, that it goes beyond pathetic, it's hillarious. You probably didn't even find me because you sensing me, but some leftover Reiatsu of your own from when that trap of yours hit me.

"You will go to hell for this."

"That wouldn't be the only thing. But when I see you again down there I can tell you all about it. So be a chap and save me a seat." Without further ado, he started to eat Nark slowly, ripping out small bite after small bite, savoring his swift victory.

He didn't think that it would be that easy, but luckily he was wrong. He was afraid Nark would sense the Gillians, but as it turned out, Nark _really_ sucked at that. That and the fact that Nark was probably too fixated on him.

The first time the both of them had fought, it had been a long and dreary matter. They had fought for hours, until Nark had gotten the better of him through a dirty ambush.

That fight had been the whole reason why Bainne started to think differently and as it just turned out, he was thinking in the right direction. His victory now had been almost too easy.

He made sure to eat every single remain of Nark and left nothing. He needed it all, or else he would eventually devolve into a Gillian again and lose all of his individuality, thus losing the one chance he had at reaching the top and fulfilling his goal.

After he finished, he turned around and started looking for his followers. Appearantly, they were smart enough to get the hint and moved out of the way of the falling debris in time. Good. If they had been so stupid to just stand under the falling rubble, they didn't deserve to be under his command.

After he had found them, he started moving towards their location. There was a lot of work to do.

* * *

**Author's notes:**

Yes, finally another one done. Like I promised, they are getting longer. After proofreading it though, I'm somewhat uncertain about the fight. I'm getting the feeling that I suck at describing fight scenes but I'm sure that changes with practice (Shit, I hope).

If you`ve got your own opinion, PM me, or, better yet, review the Story. I`ll always welcome constructive criticism.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Vice-Captain of Squad 6

Kiara was practically bouncing up and down from excitement. Shortly before Makoto left 3 days ago on the end of last week, he had told her that he had organized a little surprise. For this day, Kiara would be able to spend some time training with lieutenant Abarai Renji, vice-captain of the 6th division.

How he had pulled it off, she had no idea, but she wasn't about to look a gifthorse in the mouth. She was just happy that she could move around Seireitei freely and not in the direction of Squad 4 for a change (she knew that way by heart now).

It took her about the same time, just in the opposite direction, straight through the grounds of the 10th division. She had heard some things about this squad's captain.

Hitsugaya Toshiro. Appearantly, he was the youngest person to ever become a captain. She had also heard something about a Bankai or whatnot, but that didn't really make sense to her. She had also heard that he was the strongest Ice-user around, so that must mean something.

She made her way through there rather fast, she didn't want to be late.

As soon as she reached the entrance of Squad 6, she was encountered by two guards.

"State your name and task", one of them firmly demanded.

"Rokusan Kiara, of squad 11. I'm supposed to have a meeting with vice-captain Abarai?"

"Check the list", the guard commanded his colleague.

"Are you sure that you have a Meeting with the vice-captain today? We only know of one that is organized and-", he was interrupted by the other guard, which pointed to the list he was holding. The guard who had spoken to her suddenly had an understanding look, turned towards her and said: "Of course, you may pass. Head for the vice-captain's office, its right this way", he said and pointed her in the direction.

"Show this at the entrance, or else they won't let you in", the guard said and handed her a piece of wood with the word "visitor" engraved to it. "Lieutenant Abarai is awaiting your arrival. Have a save trip."

She thanked the guards and went on her way.

_Damn these people are polite and uptight here._

The guards from the 4th division didn't really have a list as to who was allowed to pass and squad 11 didn't even have a guard, since they were, well, squad 11. She wasn't used to this kind of formality. Everytime she paid a visit to the hospital in squad 4, the guards just gave her a greeting and a simple handwave, since she was almost a regular there.

While she was heading towards the Vice-Captains office, she noticed how busy everyone was, it was a stark contrast with squad 11. Then again, every division was a stark contrast to the 11th, no one really compared when it came to doing nothing.

Still, she had been to other divisons, or had at least walked through them on her way to the hospital, and none really compared to the 6th.

Finally, she had reached the building and steered towards the entrance. Again she was stopped by the guards, but she had already taken out her visitors pass and showed it to them.

They took it to examine its authenticity, and when they turned it around, a look of surprise appeared on their faces. "Top floor", one of them said tightly, while the other opened the enrance.

Kiara took a glance at the building to examine how many floors there were and stopped halfway through with a sigh. This was gonna take a while.

After she entered, she took a closer look at her pass and examined the other side. She hadn't noticed that something was written on there as well. It was just one word.

_Guest of the vice-captain._

Well, that was a surprise. She started to climb the stairs and after what felt like hours, finally made it to the top. She took a moment to catch her breath and stood in front of the door. Then, with a deep breath, she knocked twice.

"Yes?", came the reply after a few seconds from the inside.

"Request permission to enter, sir", Kiara said with a stern voice.

"Granted", was the short answer from the inside. She opened the door and was greeted by a wide room, which showed that order clearly reigned here. Everything looked cleanly categorized, every file maintained with care. And in the middle of it was sitting one man. His body was decorated with tattoos much like Makoto's, only that they reached further than just the arms.

His hair was long and of a slightly brighter red than hers. He also appeared to be wearing a sort of snow headband with a tigerlike marking over his head, while his hair was tightly bound together at the back top of his head.

_Think, what did Makoto say comes next? Ah, right, announce myself._

She cleared her voice, bowed and said with a serious tone: "My name is Rokusan Kiara and I am from the 11th division. I have been informed by my superior that I would have an assignement with you today, lieutenant Abarai Renji, vice-captain of the 6th division."

_Oh damn, I hope I didn't forget anything, _she thought to herself nervously.

Appearantly she hadn't, because her opposite answered with a calm voice: "Ah yes, I've been expecting you. Be a chap and close the door, will ya?"

She followed his request and immediately noticed from his manner of speech that he wasn't as uptight as all the other people she had met in this squad.

"Do you know why you are here today?", he asked her, after she closed the door and took a seat across from where was sitting at his table.

"I have been told that I would spend a day training with you, so that you could supplement my knowledge about the art of fighting, both with the sword and with Kido", she answered as formal as she could.

First, it got her a little chuckle from lieutenant Abarai, after which he asked her amused: "Did Makoto tell you to speak as if you had a stick up your ass?"

"Sir?", she asked confused, as he had nailed Makoto's choice of words to 100 percent.

"Of course he did. Listen, kid. Even if I'm the vice-captain of this division, you don't have to treat me as if polishing my boots would be the greatest honor in your life. We're just two normal people, having a casual conversation. Now, I'm gonna ask again. Do you know why you are here?"

A little embarrassed, she answered with a slight blush on her face: "Makoto told me he organized a training day for me with you."

"Ain't that better?", he asked with a little smile.

She had to smile a little herself and felt incredibly relieved. She didn't know if she could have spent an entire day speaking like that.

"Don't get used to it though. I'm pretty much the only person who will allow you that. Call it solidarity, I've been in squad 11 once too, you know."

"Yeah, vice-captain Madarame told me when he told me where to go this morning. He said he was tutoring you for some time until he had nothing left to teach you. After that, you were relocated to squad 6."

Vice-captain Abarai stared off into the distance for a few moments and then replied with: "Yeah, something like that. I'm gonna let this story be as it is, if he didn't give you the specific reasons, then I am in no position to do so."

"If you don't mind me asking", Kiara started, then stopped to choose her words carefully.

"Yes, what is it?", Lieutenant Abarai asked.

"In what relation do you stand to Makoto Souken? I mean, there must be something. I know he was in this division a while ago, but to be able to get me, someone rather insignificant, a trainingday with the vice-captain of another squad, he must have pulled some strings."

"You didn't fall on your head, that's for sure", was lieutenant Abarai's first response. Then he continued with: "But you're right. Makoto actually was to me what I was to Ikkaku Madarame and what you are to Makoto now. A personal disciple. He was a serious pain in the ass, really. Constantly mouthing off, doing things his own way and always with his head through the wall instead of simply opening the door, sometimes literally."

Kiara had to snicker at that last comment, as it was just too similar to a certain training session she had three days ago.

"He was hopeless. But I saw that he had talent and a lot of potential. That's why I took him in after he dropped out of the academy. He turned out to be a really talented and he suddenly improved a lot under my guidance. He even achieved his Shikai, and a pretty nasty one at that."

Kiara didn't want to be rude and interrupt him, so she simply raised her hand to signal she had a question. He noticed right away ad called her out on it.

"You got another question?", he asked.

"Yeah, more like several. Makoto didn't really fill me in that much about any of the work that Shinigami actually do besides maintaining peace among the worlds. My point is, I don't really get what you're talking about when you throw around words like the academy and Shikai and so on and forth."

Vice-Captain Abarai looked at her a little dumbfounded. "Are you kidding me?"

"I've only been a spirit for about three and a half months", she said, almost apologetically.

"Yeah, I mean, I know that, but didn't Makoto tell you anything?"

She lifted her shoulders and said: "Nope, nothing at all. I'm practically a blank canvas."

"Oh my god, now I understand what he meant with 'needing all my patience'. Fine, fine, it's not your fault. I'll explain everything you wanna know as good as I can. What do you wanna know first?"

She thought a bit about it and then answered: "The academy."

"Alright. The academy is a place where every Shinigami goes to normally, to hone their skills in the use of Zandatsu and Kido, as well as learn the ways of the Shinigami and learn about the other worlds that exist and their rules. There are exceptions though. The captain of your division for example didn't go to that school."

"Then how did he become captain in the first place?", Kiara asked curiously.

"By killing the former captain", lieutenant Abarai stated bluntly. That was a little mood killer, but he quickly carried on. "He however proved to be a valuable asset and despite the fact that he's loathed by some of the other captains, he's given it his all every time when it came to defending Soul Society. And after what happened 4 years ago, I think he also changed a bit."

"What happened 4 years ago?", she asked carefully.

"It's a reeeaaaallly long story, but to get straight to the point: the biggest war ever happened in Soul Society, in which we lost our former Captain-Commander, one of the only persons Kenpachi Zaraki ever payed some respect to. In the same war, in order to attain the strength he needed to defeat the enemy, he had to kill a person who he had looked up to. In those events, he also lost his former vice-captain, one of the only persons he deeply cared about. Long story short, he may be a rough, fierce, sometimes uncultured and pretty violent person, but even he has his soft spots and the last war did quite a number on him. From time to time I even see him paying his respects at the grave of the former captain-commander."

He took a deep breath before he continued. From what Kiara could tell, he had also didn't walk away unscathed from that war. "That's a story for another time however. It's not something of your concern, so no need to burden yourself with it. What other questions do you have?"

"Are there other examples of people who dropped out or have never gone to the academy that still made splendid Shinigamis?"

"I'm sure there are some examples in squad 11, but I couldn't name them, even if I tried. The only ones I can think off the top of my head is Kenpachi Zaraki, Makoto Souken and of course, you. Makoto told me all about you. He sees quite the potential in you."

"He does?", she asked surprised.

"What, he never told you?"

"All he ever talks about is training. He did make some remarks about it the last time we 'exercised', but I didn't think he held me in high regards."

"Well, it's really more his responsibility than mine to say this, but for some reason he holds you very dearly. None of my business though. Moving on. Next question", he commanded.

Even though his remark took her a little aback, she immediately knew what her next question was. "What's a shikai? And while we're at it, what's a Bankai?"

"Ah, now we get to the interesting things. Shikai and Bankai are terms for a swordrelease. Let me explain", he said with a calming expression as soon as he saw her confused face.

"What you are carrying around with you, that sword? It's called an Zanpakutou. The sword has a spirit, or, if that sounds easier to understand, the sword is alive and fights your battles with you as a companion. Eventually, when you're strong enough, you will start hearing your swords voice, as it tells you what its name is. When you speak that name out loud and mean to, you can awaken your sword's hidden power, and also raise your own. A so-called swordrelease. A Bankai is a little more difficult to attain. First you have to be able to summon the spirit of your sword into this world as a material being. Then, you have to fight and defeat that spirit, so it can reveal it's true form and power to you, its final form, the Bankai. A Bankai is a Shinigamis last resort and absolut trump card. Few have ever mastered it. Among the only ones currently in possession of the skill is every Captain, logically the Captain-Commander and some exceptions who aren't captains, like me, who have already mastered their Bankai but don't wish to become a captain. Being able to use Bankai is actually one of the qualifications."

"Does Makoto have one?"

"What, a Bankai? I have no idea. He once bragged about having achieved it something over 6 months ago, right before he went on a mission in the human world, but I've never really heard him speak of it since. I don't think so however. Achieving Bankai takes a lot of focus and commitment. Over the time I've trained him, I've rarely seen him display these traits."

"Is that really the only way to achieve Bankai?", she asked very interested.

"There _is _a method that doesn't take nearly as long, yes. It was developed by a man named Urahara Kisuke and with it, achieving Bankai only took up about 3 days instead of the usual 10 years. I've actually seen it work once. The current Shinigami Substitute Kurosaki Ichigo reached what was then his Bankai this way. I think the research department has been looking into it under the tutelage of the Captain of the 12th division himself."

She thought about other things she could ask him, but not much came to mind, so she thought she'd start focusing on the actual reason why she came here.

"Did Makoto say something about what we would do today? Did he give you any kind of advice or something?"

"Nope", Lieutenant Abarai said, slightly stressed. "The scatterbrain just told me to pick up where he left, I'd know what to do. Seriously, the dude has no organization. Alright, what do you want to focus on first, Kido or Zandatsu?"

"Wait, I can choose?"

"Of course. Training cases like you is a special endeavor. First we should focus on your strong points and improve on the weaknesses later. And since you know yourself the best, you should know what you're good at and what not."

Kiara thought about it a few moments and then remembered the bet she had made with Makoto a few days ago. "Kido", was her answer.

"Alright then, show me what you already know", he demanded.

Proudly, she stood up, took a few steps back and with a smile, released her spiritual pressure. Over the last few days she had trained a lot and now, she could release it a little bit faster and more contolled.

"Alright, at least we don't need to go over the basics. Now, focus your Reiatsu into one point."

She looked a little confused at that request, but thought she knew in a certain way what he wanted. She put her hands together and tried to move the outstreaming Reiatsu towards one point. Surprisingly, it did_ not_ go the way she thought and she instead lost control. She looked somewhat dumbfounded, but picked up her focus again and started to release her Reiatsu.

Again, she tried to focus her Reiatsu into one point, again to no effect. She tried one more time, only to fail once again.

Vice-Captain Abarai laughed softly and asked: "You want me to give you a hint?"

She was about to say "yes", but stopped at the last moment, remembering Makoto's words. "Learning effect is best when you do it yourself". As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. So she answered: "I'd like to keep trying myself."

"Even if it'll take you the whole day?", he said challengingly.

"Yes. It's a lesson Makoto taught me. 'The best way to learn how to do something is figuring it out yourself'."

Vice-captain Abarai raised an eyebrow and replied: "That's not always true, but there is a significant truth to it. You may try by yourself until you succeed, then we will continue, do you agree with these terms?", he asked.

"Yes, absolutely", she answered.

"Would you mind if do some paper work while you practice? I can stop as soon as you are ready or need help, but I've got some important things to take care of", he nudged towards a rather high stack of papers.

"Of course", she replied. "I wouldn't want to keep a vice-captain from doing his work just because I need to practice, by all means."

"How very understanding of you", he said in a thankful tone.

And that was in fact how the day went by. Him filling out the paperwork and her failing again and again to fullfil the one task he gave her.

She tried various different approaches, several varying methods. Slowly, fast, with force, with care, but no matter what she did, she didn't succeed.

And so the day actually ended with her not having accomplished a single thing.

A little disappointed in herself, she said goodbye and headed towards the exit. Just as she was about to open the door, he said: "Come back tomorrow, then we'll either continue where we left off or look at something else."

She turned around delighted, to which he added: "I was able to do quite the workload today, so I'll have some spare time to spend. Come back at the same time. I'll have everything organized."

She thanked him and went out the exit more cheerful. She had another chance. With these happy thoughts, she made her way back to the squad 11 grounds.

ooo

Renji waited until the girl closed the door, then he let himself fall on his back.

"Damn it Makoto", he said out loud. Not only was the education he gave to that girl incredibly faulty, it was completely out of character for him to do something like that in the first place.

Makoto was free-spirited, gleeful, a bit sadistic and full of joy and always wanted to live his life his own way. Never, in the time that Renji was tutoring him, did he seem like the kind of person that would just take care of someone else all of a sudden.

Renji had seen that he had the potential for many things, which was also why he took him in.

When he had first heard of Souken Makoto, it was in form of a document that said "academy drop-out breaks into academy". The tagline itself sounded ridiculous and at first, he even thought it was a joke.

He was sent to investigate and when he found the culprit he was surprised. He didn't get the kind of vibes from him that would give one the idea that this kid would drop out simply because he failed entry tests, or was not talented or intelligent enough.

On the contrary. Makoto was a pretty smart kid. When Renji had asked him why he had broken into the academy without actually stealing something, Makotos answer had been: "When they kicked me out, I voiced complaints over the faulty security. They said their security is top-notch and looked down on me with that "you're nothing"-look in their eyes, so I proved them wrong. Also to prove that I can", he had added selfstatisfied. "I've got nothing to lose, especially with my recent drop-out."

Renji had seen that with different education, this kid might become a splendid Shinigami. So he had taken him in and trained him. He had flourished better than Renji could have had imagined. He once asked Renji why he took him in and when the latter named his reasons, Makoto, for the first time, sincerely payed his respect to Renji and said he could never do such a thing. Taking responsibility was just not his type.

"So what changed?", Renji asked himself out loud. When Makoto had contacted him, it came as somewhat of a surprise. When he said he'd like Renji to train his protegè, he was taken aback and confronted him about it. He had acted all mysteriously and kept it to himself. Something was off. There had to be more to it then a sudden change in attitude. Makoto wasn't that kind of person, Renji knew that much.

He had no other choice but to confront him the next time he saw him.

ooo

The next morning, Kiara was almost too early. She had been so full of excitement, she almost didn't sleep the whole night.

This time the guards didn't demand for her objective or name, they just stopped her to hand out the "visitor"-tag.

She made her way to the vice-captain's office without any further ado, passed the guards, climbed up all the stairs and knocked at the door.

"Yes?", resounded the answer from the inside.

She opened the door and didn't announce herself this time, as she figured it probably wasn't necessary after their last conversation about this topic.

"Ah yes, close the door and sit down", Lieutenant Abarai. She did just that and after she sat down, he quickly finished his work and put it aside. "So, do you want to continue where we left of yesterday, or would you like to start something new?", he asked.

"I'd like to start something new", she admitted a little embarrassed.

"Are you sure?", he replied a bit surprised.

"Yeah, I am. When I left yesterday, I kept practicing after I got back home and I still didn't get any further than at the beginning. I'll certainly keep practicing that, as it's definitively gonna help me improve, but for now, I'd like to try something new. I feel like I'd be wasting your time otherwise."

Lieutenant Abarai just nodded and said: "I've actually prepared something for today, if you'd like to polish your swordtraining."

At first she wanted to decline, but then she remembered that the person sitting in front of her wasn't Makoto, but someone who'd probably be more restrictive.

"Yeah, sure, why not", she answered.

Apparently, she didn't overplay her discomfort too well, because Vice-Captain Abarai raised an eyebrow and asked: "You don't seem overly thrilled. Is something wrong?"

"I… combat with the sword isn't exactly my strong suit, or favorite topic to be honest."

"Makoto's training methods?"

"Makoto's training methods."

"Yeah, restraint was never one of his strengths. Don't worry, I'm not as harsh as he is. But, just to be sure; what has he taught you up until now?"

Kiara didn't have to think long. "Mostly how to defend myself and one or two actually valuable lessons lately."

"Really? And what would those be?"

"The last time we fought, he let me use a raised spiritual pressure so I could have a little advantage, but he still put me down with relative ease", she rubbed her right shoulder while she was speaking. Luckily, she had been able to hold her concentration before Makoto had catapulted her to the ground. That dampened the damage she would have taken from that hit quite a bit, but her shoulder was still a little sore.

"He taught me that, if raw power wasn't absolutely overwhelming and basically from another world, it would always lose to deception and skill."

"That's absolutely right. If you don't know what to do with your power, then it's wasted", the lieutenant concluded. "Ânything else i should know?"

"Nope, not really."

"Good, then get up. I've prepared a training ground not far from here, there we can see how fleshed out your skillset is and polish it a little."

She nodded and both got up. He walked around the table and as soon as he passed her, she followed him.

They went outside the door, down the staircase and outside the building. Then, he turned to the right and started walking at a moderate pace. They walked for a good ten minutes until the training ground he spoke of came in sight.

Kiara had expected another dojo, but it was actually a vast green field, with wooden figures put up.

"From what I've heard, you have to put up with numerous figths on a daily basis and most of those end with you either winning or in a draw right?", he asked.

She simply nodded.

"From that I can gather that you are a pretty passable combatant already. What we will look at today isn't really combat though, it's more your form. Your stance, the way you hold your blade, if there are any wasted movements in your attacks and defences and so on and forth. For that, we will use these", he said and pointed at the wooden figures.

Now that she was closer, she could actually make out what the figures really looked like. They were made of three parts. The top part was shorter compared to the other two and most likely represented the head of a person. The middle part was longer and had two arms sticking out of it, positioned exactly at the opposite of the other, while both were holding a sword.

The bottom part simply two poles sticking out straight, also completely opposite of each other.

"It works like this", Vice-Captain Abarai said and drew his sword. He stood in front of one of the figures, positioned his foot to a line drawn in the ground and gave one of the swords a hit. It started moving around, with the other sword closing in on him. He deflected it and the part moved the other way around. He did that a few times and nothing happened, until the bottom part suddenly sprung around and aimed for his feet.

He simply stepped back and evaded the attack with absloute ease.

"Inside of the mannequin is a spring-mechanism. If you attack the upper part which is supposed to be the arms, you wind up the spring until it snaps. When that happens, the mannequin attacks with its 'legs'. There are several springs inside, which exchange their position once used. Like this, the attack pattern is more sporadic and wild and trains your reflexes. The goal is to always stand on the line in fornt of the mannequin and not move back like I just did", he explained very thoroughly.

"You ready to give it a try?", he asked.

She nodded, stepped in front of a mannequin and drew her sword. It was a ^strange Sensation to actually Train with her own sowrd, since when she fought other People she always used a bokken or her sword with the scabbard still on. As soon as she took her stance, he said: "Wait, stay just like that."

He moved around her and studied her from top to bottom. Then he said: "Your feet are a little too close together. You can't properly move around or evade. The chance that you'll stumble over your own legs is too high. Bend both your knees about the same amount, but not too much. Also straighten your back and loosen up your upper body a bit, you're too tense."

She made all the corrections and as soon as he was statisfied, he signaled her to start.

At first she went at a slow pace, to get used to the new training method. She put most of her focus on the two swords and kept attacking and deflecting them, but also kept an eye on the "legs".

When they snapped the first few times it was easy to evade or block. She made a simple jump or deflected the hit with her balde. Then she picked up the pace and started to attack harder and faster, until she got hit by a swing from below that was way faster than the others.

In one fellow swoop, she was knocked off her feet and fell to the ground.

"Naturally", the vice-captain started to explain, "when you start to be more aggressive, so will your opponent. The contraption has a mechanism that reacts to stronger attacks and takes different springs the stronger the attacks get."

It sounded obvious and Kiara felt stupid for not thinking of that herself. She got back up and took her stance again, realized that a few things were off and corrected them by herself. Then she took a deep breath and started again.

It went like this for the whole day and for the entire time, vice-captain Abarai stood there with crossed arms and watched her carefully. Sometimes he stopped her and showed her how to do certain moves more efficiently. She noticed how she moved around way too much with a few of those maneuvers.

It went on and on, until another Shinigami showed up and ran up to lieutenant Abarai to deliver a message to him.

"Vice-Captain Abarai, Sir. I am here to inform you that your meeting with captain Kuchiki has been moved from tomorrow to the present day. He is awaiting your report in his office in an hour."

Lieutenant Abarai clicked with his tongue and mumbled something to himself before responding with: "Thank you for delivering the message. You may fall out."

"Sir", his opposite answered and made his way in the direction he came from.

After he left, the Vice-Captain turned around and told Kiara: "It appears we've run out of time. I'm sorry but this is all I can teach you. You're gonna have to practice on your own until Makoto returns from whatever he's doing."

"Thank you very much. Your teachings helped me a lot", she responded.

"Don't sweat it, I didn't really do much", he replied. "Well, I'll be off then, I have some things to prepare. Take care", he said.

"Thanks, you too."

After he took off, she slowly made her way back towards squad 11 and for once she actually hoped that she'd get some challenges. That way she could practice what she just learned.

* * *

**Author's notes:**

So, a few words regarding this chapter. Let's start with the obvious: Renji. Why was Makoto Renji's disciple? Better question is, why not? I thought it was a fun way of working in a character we know and like. As to why he acted the way he did? Well, since this _does_ take place four years after Ichigo defeated Yhwach, i thought it would only be natural if Renji matured a little and became more... refined. Now many of us know Renji, but the lore shows that he's actually only being himself around his friends and is actually a pretty dutyful Person, hence the actual fucking reason why he's Byakuyas right hand in the first place. That's why I thought his working place wouldn't be chaos incarnate, so it isn't. I ain't got much else though, so that's that.

If you`ve got your own opinion, PM me, or, better yet, review the Story. I`ll always welcome constructive criticism.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: The start

"So let me get this right: he terrified the fuck outta you, sent you flying through the ceiling, chased you to the human world, somehow lured you back and _then _he said he wanted to recruit you?"

"In that exact order. First thing I told him was that he needed to work on his methods. And his face", Setsuzo answered.

"You insulted his face and still live? Shut up", Raiba said in disbelief.

"Dude, I was done, alright? I just got chased by an impossible amount of bloodlust and just when I had found some peace, a _human_ with spiritual powers started to chase me again, all for me to accidentally get back to this lunatic and being forced into an army of his. I was this close", Setsuzo quinted the thumb and index finger of his left hand, "to yelling at him for what a dumbass motherfucker he was. Instead I just told him that nobody will believe that he's someone whose intentions are even remotely close to not harmful. Not with that face of his."

Raiba had to laugh a little at that last remark. He and Setsuzo had been carrying around material for a stronghold for hours. Bainne had positioned his Gillian in a whide circle around the two and given them a command to stay where they are and attack anything that moves outside the circle.

He himself had gone off to either gather new members, or hunt, according to his own words.

After he had almost crushed the two in his last skirmish, he had guided them to a few different locations that he believed where fit for a base of operations. It had taken them three attempts until they had found a suitable place. Now, Raiba and Setsuzo were busy trying to build something out of it. Day in and day out.

Towards the end of the day, they would go hunting themsleves. As an additional measure of safety, Bainne had somehow found a way to link Setsuzo and Raiba with a Gillian. They had a small thread of their Reiatsu connected to them and as long as that was the case, their minds (or what little was left of it) were suppressed and the two hollows had a little edge over others.

The place where they actually built their castle was just a huge rock and wasn't exactly built per se, but more scooped out. Bainne had had very specific notions about how he wanted it to look.

First he just wanted to lay some groundwork. Building some corridors and rooms was the main priority right now. Everything else could be built around the main compound with the spare material they took out and with new material that they would find in specific places that could technically be called mines.

Setsuzo put down the boulder he was carrying and took a look at the construct. It was basically just a boulder about a hundred meters high and fifty meters whide, but buried enough in the ground for it to make a solid fundament. Relatively small, but given the fact that several installations were still to be made around their "castle", it didn't matter much.

"So, tell me a little more about yourself", Raiba demanded.

"Why exactly?"

"From the looks of it, we'll be stuck with each other for quite a while and given the fact that we can't leave, have to get along enough for this whole army-thing to work and our general well-being is on the line if we don't, we might as well try."

"You first", Setsuzo responded. "I just told you the story of how I unfortunately wound up with our boss. Your turn."

"Fine", Raiba said. "What do you wanna know?"

"No idea, just start somewhere. Somewhere _significant_", he added before his opposite could make any vague, quibby remark.

"As you know, I became a hollow about 3 years ago", Raiba got straight to the point. "Before that a rather… coincidental occurrence caused my death. I was clinging to the place I died for a few weeks until my grudge ultimately got the best of me. Then I got here", he made a gesture and pointed to everything around him.

"After a few weeks I found my way to the ground and since it was much safer to hunt and survive downn here, I decided to stay. I started polishing my skills, killing other hollows, eating them and become stronger, you know, the usual. Not much happened, it was always the same, until you spotted me. Now that we're speaking of that topic, how did you do that? I was so sure that I suppressed my Reiatsu perfectly."

"It's… hard to explain. A few weeks ago, I improved my ability to sense the Spiritual pressure of an individual being. I then could not only perceive the size of a signature, but also get a little deeper than that and I started to make out a little difference. While normal Reiatsu feels rough, wild and natural, a suppressed one feels smooth and kind of pulls away from your perception if you don't pay attention. Yours was the only one to feel like that, so I kinda focused on you, since, well, everything else was just a blatant waste of time."

"You know, if any of the other hollows running around here woul be even remotely unique, I'd take that as a compliment."

"Coming to think of it, I do have one question. Why are you not like the others?"

"What do you mean?", Raiba responded puzzled.

"You're not like any normal hollow I've seen so far. You're not overly sadistic, violent or whatever else goes into that direction."

With a shrug of his shoulders he answered: "Same reason why you aren't either. I just don't feel like it. Don't get me wrong, I'm all in for the fighting and devouring, since its kinda how we have fun and stay alive, but I'm not overly fond of unnecessary violence or cruelty. I tried, but for the love of god, I just can't befriend myself with the thought of letting others suffer just so I can get off on it."

Setsuzo smiled. Finally, someone he could relate to.

_ooo_

_1942_

_He was crouching next to the wooden wall of the house. Slowly and carefuly, he moved forward, paying close attention to where he put his feet. He could not make a single sound, or they would hear him. They were on high alert this evening._

_It had been awefully close, but he still got away. He always did. And this time, he even found what he was looking for. A spot on the wall that was easy enough to climb over, so that he could finally get out of this hideous place. _

_But for now, his only goal was to get back to his quarters, so that nobody would even realize he was gone. When he had done that, he would go over to the next part of his plan. All he had to do now was to focus, focus on the moment, like he always did. _

_Suddenly, he heard something around the corner of the building he was next to._

Oh shit_, he thought._

_He stopped moving and concentrated on listening. He heard the voices of a few men speaking, probably guards on a parol. _

_His quarters were two houses further away in a straight line. Should he dare to make a run for it? No, it was too risky. After all the hard work he had put in his plans, he couldn't throw it out the window. So he waited._

_The voices came closer and closer and he started to panic._

No, no, no, no, no shit. SHIT. What now?

_He stood up and moved a little closer to the wall, pressing himself against it. Then he looked around and searched the ground in the scarce light that was provided by the floodlights set up in the camp. He needed something he could throw, so that he could distact the guards and move forward._

Magnificent, _he exclaimed internally when he found a stone. Now all he had to do was move to the other end of the housewall and throw the stone in a direction that would get the guards away from him. Which proved to be easier said than done._

_One foot in front of the other, he slowly made his way to the corner. As he was about to stick his head out to watch where he should aim, a floodlight was moving towards him and almost lit him up. He had gotten out of sight just in time._

_His heart was racing and he noticed that out of shock he forgot too breathe for a few moments. He caught his breath and collected himself before he started watching the floodlight and when it moved away from him, he turned around the corner again and aimed carefully. His time in this place had slimmed him down quite a bit, so he had to summon up all his strength to throw the stone as far as he could._

"_What was that", one of the guards shouted. Then he signaled the man standing at the floodlight to move it towards the spot where the rock had fallen._

"_Who is there?", he yelled. Nobody answered. Without words, the two started moving._

ooo

Bainne opened his eyes. Groaning, he got up from the place where he had lain down.

One of the dreams again. It had been almost 80 years, but sometimes he was still haunted by them. The dreams of his mortal life as a human, way back during a time when human cruelty had hit its peak, like it had not done for a very long time.

He would never forget the violence, abuse and suffering he and the others had to endure during that time.

But now was not the time to dwell in memories. He was on the hunt and as such had to be on alert around the clock. Especially now.

His hunt had not turned out how he wanted it to at all. What else was new.

His target should have been an easy kill, but it turned out to be quite the adept fighter.

He had taken a few Gillians with him and while he was traveling on the second layer, they were down in the forest of menos, ready to support him at any given moment once he gave the command. However, he had blown the element of surprise already and when he had used them, his enemy had reacted just fast enough to avoid any fatal damage.

Then he found out the hard way that this opponent was not to be taken lightly. He may have looked like he was not on par with Bainne, but that image deceived.

He looked normal at first, with a red upper body and a furry lower body, with animalistic legs ending in hoofs. With his horned mask, he looked almost exactly like a minotaur.

After Bainne had attacked with the Gillian from below, he had quickly detected the surge in Reiatsu below and moved out of the way. He then had turned around, right towards Bainne's position and used some strange strengthening technique. His body had suddenly started to beef up and gain a much stronger build.

During the whole transformation he never lost Bainne out of his eyes and when he was done, he charged right towards him.

The former had jumped high up in the air, but his opponent used a technique called Sonido, which was something similar to a teleport, to get on the same height.

While his opponent lost a little of his momentum, he still had pretty much full speed on display and had rammed Bainne in the right side of his body, around the rip section.

During that, Bainne had managed to dig his bladewings into his enemys back, but not deep enough to cause fatal harm. He had broken free from his the minotaurs attack and used Sonido himself to get back to the ground.

Then he had quickly retreated and soon found himself in the spot he was in now. His opposite had some problems as well with his wounds, because he had been nowhere to be seen, so he had probably found a spot to hide as well.

First it had been only seconds, while both of them had prepared for an attack from the other. Then minutes. Then hours. Eventually, Bainne had closed his eyes to rest a bit while still monitoring the enemy.

Bainne had developed some kind of sixth sence early in his life as an Adjuchas. It allowed him to rest and stay alert at the same time. It was a kind of trance-like state that while not giving him as much rest as real sleeping still got him some rest.

And there he was, still wary of the enemy lurking somewhere out there, certainly preparing his next attack.

Bainne had in fact been right, but not in the way he thought he was, because all of a sudden, his connection to the Gillian became distorted.

_Motherfucking-_

**( Bleach OST 1 Track 9: Enemy unseen )**

The bastard wanted to rip away his control of the hollows down below in the forest of Menos.

He wouldn't give up the control that easily though. He started pushing back, claiming his control again and ordered the Gillians to charge up another Cero. That's when his enemy took an unexpected route and shifted all his concentration on one of the Gillians.

Trying to take away all of them was impossible, not with Bainnes degree of control. But suddenly going from all to one was something else. It wasn't even the shift that surprised Bainne, but the quickness of it. He tried to cling on but ultimately lost and had to give up control.

But the other Adjuchas didn't stop there. He commanded the one hollow he had taken over to fire his Cero towards all the others and succeeded.

Bainne wasn't fast enough to command all the Menos still under his command to kill the new foe among them and that resulted in all of them getting killed.

Now the tables were turned and his enemy did not only come out on top of their internal battle, Bainne had also lost his entire support.

He tried to take back the last Gillian, but as soon as he attempted to break the control of his opposing Adjuchas, the latter suddenly commanded the last of the Menos to snap his own neck.

Now it was just the two of them.

Bainne slowly got up, started to cackle, clapped his hands and walked out in the open.

"Well played", he said out loud. "Well played indeed. Since it's just the two of us now, why don't we cut the whole 'hide-and-seek'-thing and get right down to it."

No answer.

"Come on, there's no need to hide anymore. I'm out and recovered, you're probably all healed up too so why not show yourself?"

He still got no answer. Slowly but surely he was getting impatient. So he started to look for his opponent's signature and after some time, found it.

He was about 30 meters to Bainne's right, hiding behind a dune.

Bainne stretched out his arm and started charging up a Cero.

"Come on out, come on out. It's not like I'm hiding something else. I'm fresh out of tricks."

Finally, a response came his way.

**( Bleach Ost 3 Track 4: Clavar la Espada )**

"Would you believe me if I told you I don't believe you?"; his enemy asked. His voice was deep and sonorous.

"And why would that be?", Bainne asked in return.

"You just turned up and attacked me from behind and you didn't even do it yourself, you commanded mindless lower hollows to do it for you. Doesn't make you look like a very believable or trustworthy person, all the offense by the way."

"None taken", Bainne said, but still clicked his tongue. "It's a harsh world we live in, you gotta take what you can get. Honor and pride are for the moronic and dense. If you win, you survive. And I really like to live."

"See, _that _I believe you."

"You wouldn't be the first."

"That I also believe you."

"…..you're just fucking with me."

"And you finally get it, but it wasn't just that. You see, I had to buy some time to prepare a little surprise for you. But you know, we do agree on one thing", he said and suddenly two Ceros were charging out of his hideout towards Bainne from the front and behind.

"Motherfucker!", Bainne yelled out loud and dodged to the left side, only to be surprised by the fact that the Ceros were actually homing in on him. Cursing, he fired his own Cero into the other two and managed to cancel out one but couldn't get the second, which still pursued him.

Still evading, he started to charge up another Cero in the palm of his hand, but the constant dodging distracted him too much, so it took way longer than he liked.

Finally, he finished it and didn't hesitate one second to fire. He canceled out the other Cero and stopped to take a quick breather, only to be surprised by his opponent who appeared behind him and uttered: "Pride and honor are for the moronic and dense."

A hand forcefully made its way through Bainne's chest right below his hole and rendered him incapacitated, unable to react, move or do anything at all.

Or at least, that's what would have happened, if Bainne was as naïve as his opponent believed him to be.

When he had realized that the two Ceros were following him, he knew that something like this would happen, so he had gotten into a position that would make it easy for him to get out of a situation like that.

He let himself fall down forwards, put both his hands on the ground, propping himself against it, pulled his legs and released them like a spring towards his enemys face. And hit it with full force.

His opponent was sent flying and hit the ground about 20 meters away from where he was standing. Bainne got up quickly, maxed his Reiatsu Output and started charging up another Cero.

Meanwhile, his opponent slowly got back up, groaning in pain, but Bainne didn't give him any chances to recover. He used his signature move and with a beat of his wings he released the hanging blades from them, impaling the other Adjuchas at several spots with them, causing major injuries.

He was thrown to the ground once more, but he still started to get back up again. However, by the time he was already standing again, Bainne had finished charging up his Cero and fired it. And the attack hit with no mercy.

Once again, his opponent was sent flying, way further this time. Bainne was getting ready to charge towards his position, but was stopped dead in his tracks by a pain in his right side.

_Damn it, the wound from earlier._

He grit his teeth and got back up again. Now was not the time for weakness. He let out a war cry, maxed his Spiritual pressure once more and leaped towards his opponent. He readied himself for a counterattack, but when he arrived at the Minotaurs position, nothing awaited him. Nothing but a defeated hollow, taking his last breaths.

**( Bleach OST Memories of Nobody Track 14: Nothing anymore )**

"…how? How are you so-", he couldn't finish his sentence as he was coughing up blood, most likely from severe internal wounds.

As soon as he was finished, he made another attempt.

"How… are you so str- so strong?", he asked with a shaky voice.

"I have something to live for, something that goes beyond the simple instinct to devour and evolve. A conviction, that keeps pushing me forward", Bainne answered bluntly. "A cause that doesn't allow me to die, under absolutely no circumstances. And I will do whatever it takes to see that cause fulfilled."

With those words he fell to his knees, bent over his defeated opponent and started devouring him.

At first, he groaned in pain and put up a struggle, trying to push Bainne away but his attempts were too weak.

At first he got more tranquil.

He struggled less and less.

Then his breathing got quieter.

He stopped moving around, but still groaned a bit in pain with each bite.

Until he didn't fight anymore at all.

* * *

**Author's notes:**

Yes, yes, I know, my update rate is abysmal. I'm really sorry, but I've been held up a little with chapter 14 as I had to be careful how to write it, what to keep in, what to cut out and so on and forth. Long story short, it was very important for the start of a certain character arc that I got that one right, so instead of rushing it I decided to wait and think about it until I found the right way how to write it. I'm pretty proud of it actually.

Now, thoughts on this chapter. There's not much to say, excëpt that the ending is maybe a little bleak and that this is a rather quick read compared to other chapeters I've uploaded, but that's just my opinion. As you can see the fight scenes are still rather short, but there is actually a half solid reason for that, apart from the fact that I still ain't that great at writing them. The strongest individuals we've seen fighting so far were Adjuchas. Now, I don't need to remember you that Adjuchas aren't exactly the top tier of Hollows, so I imagine their fights wouldn't take that long either.

Additional random thoughts, but also advice for anyone out there who wants to become a writer or storyteller like me: PROOFREAD YOUR MATERIAL BEFORE YOU UPLOAD IT. Seriously, I'm still baffled by the mistakes I sometimes find in my works before publishing them and I'm pretty sure I still miss some mistakes.

And last but not least another big thank you to all the people who actually bother to read this in their free time. Gotta say, it's even more fun to write when you know that there are people out there who actually give enough of a damn to follow your story.

With that all being said:

If you`ve got your own opinion, PM me, or, better yet, review the Story. I`ll always welcome constructive criticism.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Going for a walk

Raiba and Setsuzo had been carrying around boulders for days now. It wasn't that this kind of work was difficult, it just got extremely repetitive at some point.

Raiba was almost hoping for something to happen to get them out of their misery, if even just for a little bit. Either that, or he would finally provoke Setsuzo enough so that he'd start a fight.

Their last and sadly only battle ended rather unstatisfying and he was curious to see just how strong Setsuzo really was.

"Come on", he nagged once again, like he did everyday. "Bainne's gone, we're save and nothing can happen, we heal anyway."

"How exactly are those arguments different from the ones you listed yesterday? And the day before that? And the day before that one? And the day before- actually everyday?"

"This time I'm more… optimistic?", Raiba thought out loud.

"You really shouldn't be. You should be the absolute opposite right about now."

"Well, as you can clearly see, I'm not. I'm more motivated than ever-"

"Yeah, it worries me. And it's fucking annoying."

"You know I'll do it as long as I have to." He twisted his face to an uncompromising grimace and hoped Setsuzo could see it, even if his mask was over his face.

"I'm so glad that we have masks over our heads as Hollows, because I bet you're making a face right now that I luckily can't see because of that."

Raiba raised his eyerow and said: "You are just hellbent on making this difficult aren't you."

"As long as you're hellbent on nagging like a child. Face it, you'll never push me over the edge."

"Wouldn't be so sure about that. I bet you I'll find your weak spot one day."

"You'll die trying", Setsuzo mocked.

"Who will die trying?", Bainne's voice suddenly resounded from behind them.

Both jumped back startled and looked at him before calming down again. "No one", they answered at the same time.

Bainne looked at them critically before turning around to check the progress they've made over the past couple days.

"We are never going to get anywhere with you two if you continue at this pace."

The two of them looked at eachother before Raiba said: "Well what do you suggest then?"

"Go out and make new friends", Bainne stated bluntly. "Search the woods for hollows similar to you two, though preferably some who talk less. Take your Gillians as an insurance in case things go wrong."

"As you command mylord", Raiba responded in a sarcastic tone. Setsuzo snickered a little, but both of them quickly caught themselves when they heard him grunt and went on their way before they invoked the wrath of their boss. As it stood, they were pretty close to pushing him over the edge, so they'd rather get out of there fast before the air got any thicker.

"You think he's mad?", Raiba asked Setsuzo 15 minutes after they left.

"When is he ever _not_ mad is the better question here. Honestly, in the beginning he thought you were pretty funny, but the longer he spends time with you, the more you get on his nerves."

"Oh, really?", Raiba asked with an exaggeratingly shocked gesture. "Whatever gave you that impression?", he continued in the same tone.

"You see, that?", Setsuzo answered and pointed towards Raiba. "That is exactly what I'm talking about. That part about you drives him up the wall so hard it's almost not funny anymore."

"Almost?", Raiba stressed out.

"Almost", Setsuzo answered and Raiba could practically smell the smile on his face.

"First you mock me for my special way of social interaction, but then you comment on how you still find it funny? You're a pretentious bastard, you know that?"

"Hey, you know the backstory he and I have. The way you drive him crazy now is about as agonizing for him as he was for me in that first week that I was alone with him. _Alone_ with him, Raiba. Can you imagine?"

"No I can't and I don't want to."

"Oh, you got that one right."

Raiba had nothing further to add to that, so both of them just kept walking forwards. That was, until Raiba suddenly came up with a question.

"Dude, where the fuck are we walking?"

"I don't know, I followed your lead."

Both of them looked at each other and simultaneously sighed while also chuckling a little. They closed their eyes and started to search for signatures.

Raiba immediately found a few, but they were way beyond their level, so he passed them up and kept looking. Then he remembered what Setsuzo had told him about signatures and how they differed from eachother when suppressed. So he started to linger more on the Spiritual pressures he found and tried to not only grasp their size, but also how they felt.

At first there was nothing. He found a few more insignificant hollows, all with rough and wild Reiatsu, so he kept looking further and further until-

"I think I found one", he said.

"Yeah, me too", Setsuzo responded. "I actually found two. One in this direction", he pointed to their left, "and one in that direction", he pointed towards their right. "I'd say we choose one of them and defeat it together to be on the safe side."

"Are you serious?", Raiba asked incredulous. "We both have one Gillian and we both have special abilitys. We go two on one, it's not even a real fight, it's straight up overkill. Where's your sense of adventure?"

"Don't get me wrong, I'm all for fighting and that that stuff, but I'm also all for living. And I'm kinda moreinto that last one to be honest. The objective right now is not to risk something in a fight where we could possibly gain nothing at all, but to bring back help so we can work faster on the castle. Remember how we "recruited" you?"

"Yeah, you fought me somewhat on even grounds and then we were interrupted and I was pretty much overpowered so I had no other choice..." The Revelation dawned upon him and nodded understandingly.

"Also, always remember that Bainne is a very practical person. He doesn't care much about the methods, as long as we deliver statisfying results", Setsuzo continued.

Raiba wanted to reply with a counterargument, but he had to admit that Setsuzo was right.

"Alright fine, we'll do it your way. But I get to choose", he said quickly, took a step forward and searched for the two signatures, or rather the one to his left that he didn't sense before. It didn' take him long and he found it.

Before Setsuzo could interject, he turned left and said: "And we will take-"

"That one", Setsuzo interrupted and pointed to their left.

"Hey, I thought I get to choose."

"Yeah, see, you said that, but we never actually agreed", Setsuzo said with a smirk.

Raiba sighed, knowing that it wouldn't do him any good to argue with his partner. Technically he was still his higher up in terms of rank.

He was about to start walking towards the stated direction, as an idea suddenly struck his mind. He stopped and thought a bit about it, until he realized Setsuzo was still Walking.

"Wait."

"Oh god, what now?"

"I just got an idea and hear me out on this one. We need more 'comrades' that help us build Bainnes castle right? So what if we don't actually look for people like us who are unique, but instead we just take every random hollow we can find."

"Did you listen to what I said earlier?"

"Yeah I did, or else I wouldn't be making this proposal. If we keep searching like this, we'll never get anywhere. How long did we search until we found those two Hollows that might possess some individuality, ten minutes? How many insignificant Hollows did you find on your search? I bet you it was at least a hundred."

"Again, did you listen to what I said earlier?"

"Again, yes I did. Remember how you just told me that Bainne only cares for results? What he wants most right now is a castle. Even if we find more Hollows like ourselves, it'll be four or five at best and that doesn't include us actually convincing all of them to join that maniac in a cause that he won't tell us about. If we're done with the fortress, we can still go looking for more unique Hollows. We'll even have some helpers whose company doesn't wanna make us gut the first thing that comes our way out of pure boredom", Setsuzo explained and glanced back at the two Gillians following them.

"What I meant with 'were you listening' was did you read between the lines? Bainne cares for results, yes, but he is also a person that doesn't like to be disobeyed."

"I kinda got that already. Still, if he wants to get shit done, this is how he gets it done. Faster than with the method he had in mind anyway."

"What if he doesn't like it?"

"The probability is high that he will."

"Yes but what if he doesn't? How do you wanna get all those hollows over to the Castle anyway?"

Raiba didn't answer and instead turned around and pointed at the Gillians, to which the one he controlled took out his big hand from under his mantle.

"Fair enough", Setsuzo said.

ooo

"Tell me again, and try to be specific, what was my order to the two of you?"

Raiba swallowed. Not off to a good start, but that was to be expected. "You said 'Go out and make new friends, preferably some who don't talk as much as you do'. We tried to do that, but then it occurred to us that building your castle would be much faster if we had many helping hands instead of a few strong ones."

If Raibas opinion actually would have counted anything, then he would said that they did a damn fine job. All in all, they had gathered and brought back about 50 lower hollows that were now running around like worker bees, most likely because they were absolutely terrified by their new master. That and the 50 or so Gillians that were staring at them, still standing in a circle around their "construction site".

Bainne said nothing, he just stood in front of Raiba and Setsuzo and stared at them. Raiba wondered what was going on in his head. Either he was trying to think of the most painful way to punish the two, or he was thinking of a way of saying how their thinking outside the box was not bad, while he still stood in the dominant position.

Luckily, it was the latter. "I will give you a pass this time, since that wasn't actually a bad idea. But, I'm going to send you out again and this time, you will follow my orders. Now go, before I change my mind."

Both of them turned around immediately and took off. After they ran for about 5 minutes straight, they started to slow down a little and allowed themselves to loosen up.

""Oh gee, what if he doesn't like us not doing what he told us?" "Ah come on, there's no way he'd be mad about that", Setsuzos recited with a mocking voice.

"Ok, first off, I don't sound anything like that, that's a terrible impression. Second off, I admit I was a little too optimistic", Raiba said. "On the bright side it worked like we imagined", Raiba tried to highlight.

"Yeah, I imagined being this close to being torn to pieces", Setsuzo said and squinted his thumb and index finger. "Let's just be happy that it actually worked and do what the tyrant wants this time. The one we wanted to chase first is actually in front of us now, so I'd say we start with that."

"How did you find him so fast again?"

"I never actually lost track of him. Come on, let's go."

Baffled, Raiba followed his lead. Never loosing track of ones spiritual signature wasn't impossible per se, but it was difficult, especially when one was doing something else entirely. Yet Setsuzo just did it like it was nothing.

Raiba had thought about it a few times since he had met Setsuzo and Bainne and now he was going back to that thought again. No matter how he looked at it, Setsuzo was just… strange.

He had rather unique skills, but he wasn't boasting about them. When he fought, he demonstrated more tenacity and persistence than most Hollows that Raiba had seen in the three years since he had become one himself. And yet, Setsuzo never showed the other stereotypical behaviors of a Hollow.

Raiba had always thought he was the only "different" hollow who retained some of his humanity, but he knew he had been wrong the first time he and Setsuzo talked.

_Better focus instead of dwelling in thoughts._

He reached out to get a read on the signature in front of them. They kept walking towards the general direction of the Hollow they were homing in on, but not directly towards him so they wouldn't tip him off.

Unfortunately, their target knew he was about to encounter them. About 20 meters before they reached him, he made a break for it.

Neither of the two had to say a word, both simultaneously maxed their Spirtual pressure and started the chase. They split up so that they could narrow in on their target from both sides.

The chase proved to be harder than anticipated though. Everytime they came close to their target, he changed course. One time he even stopped while they were running with full speed, flipped over them and ran in the opposite direction.

Finally, they caught up to him and Raiba had some time to catch his breath.

His head and mask had some resemblance with a lion, he was taller than both Setsuzo or Raiba and his body was covered in dark yellow fur. The fur was thin, and his muscular body had bones growing out of the limbs inplaces such as the elbows. the knees shoulders and the spine. They kind of looked like armor plates.

"Don't you… dare… to run… any further."

"Tell me what you wish to request of me and I shall decide on your demand accordingly", the Hollow answered with a very suave and calming voice.

"Oh great, an aristocrat. Just what we needed in our ranks."

"I beg your pardon? I must say, I take great offense to your little comment about my manner of speaking, I suggest you apologize immediatley, lest you want me to take action on your insullt", the aristocrat said with a sulky tone.

"I- I mean he, uh, 'begs your pardon' as well, I'm sure he didn't mean what he said", Setsuzo spoke in Raiba's stead.

"No, I meant exactly what I said."

"Oh great", Setsuzo sighed and facepalmed.

"Excuse you, you little twat, but I have lived down here for decades, survived the onslaught of Aizen Sousuke and the leader of the quincy Yhwach and I am not letting an insolent youngling such as yourself look down upon me."

"Oh, well then excuse you, you old fart, but I'm not one for paying respect to the elderly much, not in this world."

"Yes, so I have noticed. You also seem to lack quite the necessary portion of general etiquette, if you don't mind me saying that, young one."

"Hey, watch it, or you'll find out in just how may ways I lack some etiquette, old fart."

"People can we _please_", Setsuzo intervened, before the pissing contest between the two picked up any more momentum. "First of all, Raiba, rememeber why we're here and let me do the talking. We don't want this to end in a bloodbath."

"Oh, I don't know, I'm feeling pretty tempted right now", Raiba retorted.

"No, you don't", Setsuzo said determined. "Second of all, I'm very sorry, I think we got off on the wrong foot here. My name is Setsuzo and this is my partner Raiba. What's your name, uhm, sir?"

"Finally, someone with decency. All one crosses paths with down here is either a complete savage or a tactless brute", with the last two words he shortly glanced in Raiba's direction. "My name is Leòn Girona. It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance Setsuzo, though I must ask again, what is it that you wish to ask of me?"

"Yeah, about that. See, we work for a man that has a lot of ambitions, demands and ideas. But to utilize all those things for him, we need to be higher in numbers. Which is why my partner and I have started a search for potential recruits to help us out and you just so happened to be around."

"What will you two attempt in case I should refuse your offer?"

"Ah, you know how these things go. First we kill you, then we eat you, simple as that. On the bright side, if you do come with us, you will have the possibility to evolve and become stronger. Adding to that is the bonus that you will be among like-minded hollows, so your future survival is almost guaranteed, since you won't be alone anymore."

"And what if I told you that I do not wish to do all those things?"

"Then you'd be lying. Every Hollow has the same instincts."

Leòn chuckled a little at that comment. "Is that so? Well, allow me to indulge you in some knowledge, young one. Not all Hollows possess them. Not every one of us is driven by evolutionary need or the urge to consume, but I'll humor you. There have not been any interesting occurences what so ever in the last few years, so I shall accompany you and this mystery man you speak of for a while."

Raiba sighed. Damn, he had hoped that it would come to a fight, but it seemed like he would have to wait before he got a swing at the old geezer.

Raiba closed his eyes and focused on the other signature that he had located earlier. Their chasing around of Leòn didn't actually take them that much further away from it, since they had been pretty much running in circles.

"Oi, Setsuzo. The other one we felt is not far from from where we are now. Looks like ol' McHigh-and-Noble here gets to prove his worth rather soon", he said with a provocative tone.

"We'll work on that", was the only thing said ol' McHigh-and-Noble had to say.

"What's that supposed to mean?", Raiba asked a little offended, but Leòn gave him no answer. "Hey, what do you mean with 'we'll work on that'?"

"You know exactly what I mean."

"Fucking prick", Raiba muttered under is breath.

"I heard that", said prick remarked.

"Good!", Raiba yelled back.

Setsuzo just let out a heavy sigh. "This is gonna be all day long with you two, innit?"

ooo

"Like hell I'm just gonna follow you an' some crazy dude I dunno", was the answer of the next Hollow they tracked down.

Unfortunately, he wasn't nearly as compliant as Leòn had been.

"Why not? We just told you all the benefits you'd get if you would join us", Setsuzo tried to convince his opposite.

"I can do that just fine on my own, thanks a bunch. I don't need no lil' sugardaddy holdin' my hand the entire way and gives me a lollipop for never loosin' sight of the bedazzlin' jewelry between his legs, which he'd probably swing around in front of my face the entire time anyway. Don't know it, don't need it, and don't care about it, so fuck off."

"Leòn?", Raiba asked with a contrived over-the-top voice. "I think before you attempt to teach me anything, I believe this young fellow in front of us is in dire need of some education."

"The first true words to leave your mouth today", Leòn chuckled amused.

"You could count the entire week", Setsuzo muttered under his breath.

"Hey, I heard that", Raiba complained.

"Good!", Setsuzo shot back.

"Regardless of whether it is an hour, a day, a week, or a month. Gentlemen, I would like to take this opportunity to demonstrate a small selection of my skills to you. I must ask you to stay back."

"Done deal. Rip him a new one", Raiba said with a fake cheery tone immediately.

"Quite", Leòn responded in a calm and collected manner.

He started to move towards the other Hollow slowly and with caution. Said Hollow just chuckled, spread his arms with an inviting gesture and said: "I ain't afraid of you. Do your worst, I'll prove why I don't have to follow some kind of cult to get strong."

Leòn didn't take the bait. Nothing about the stance or tension in his body changed. He just kept moving slowly towards his enemy. The latter still stood where he was, arms wide open and completely relaxed.

_Does he- is he actually thinking so highly of himself?_

Leòn continued his careful approach, until he was about one meter away from walking into his enemy. In one swift motion he wound up and hit his opponent's neck from the side, actually taking the head clean off the body. The head was thrown several meters away, until it landed on the floor and came to a stop.

Both Setsuzo and Raiba watched in disbelief, as they tried to grasp what just had occured. "Did that just happen?", Raiba asked first.

"Some people are just too full of themselves", Setsuzo spoke next with an equally baffled tone.

Leòn turned around and even he seemed a little surprised. "I honestly thought he would attempt something. Oh well, I guess that would conclude this matter. Do you have any other… genius targets that you wish to inspect and or recruit?", he said, while the body behind him collapsed and started to leak out blood.

"Not right now, let me check", Setsuzo answered. While he started searching for more potential candidates, Raiba couldn't take his eyes off the head that was still lying on the ground.

He was finally snapped out of it when he heard a crunching noise and looked around, only to see that Leòn was eating the corpse. "I thought not every hollow is driven by the same needs?", he asked.

"That may be, but even when you don't have those desires, one does get hungry and thus needs to take in food, through which he can keep on living. Survival and desire are two different things, young one."

Before Raiba could say anything Setsuzo tugged his arm, pointed in a direction on their left side and said: "Reach out that way and tell me what you feel."

Raiba gave him a questioning look, but Setsuzo returned that look with an expression that said _just do it._

Raiba closed his eyes and reached out. At first slowly, but the longer he searched the faster he went. He took quite some time, much longer than Setsuzo (_jeez how good was the guy with energy-sensory?)._ That was until he reached a massive pool of energy.

He opened his eyes and turned around towards Leòn. "What's in that direction?"

"Which direction are you referring to?", he asked while he looked up from his meal. Raiba pointed towards it. "Ah yes, that. You could say it is a gathering of people like us. Instead of being a gathering though, you could better describe it as a slaughterfest."

"What, is something raging around there that kills all the Hollows?"

"No, nothing major really. Just average Hollows with the certain something like you and me and young Setsuzo here. They are concocting something that is almost akin to a ritual one might say."

"What kinda ritual, what are they doing there besides slaughtering each other?"

"They are ascending. To the next stage to be exact. In our case, that would be a Gillian."

"Would it be wise to go there and lay bare our proposal?", Setsuzo asked while still looking towards the massive pool of Spiritual pressure.

"I think you already know the answer to that, young one."

ooo

Bainne had not exactly been thrilled about their accomplishments, but appearantly it was enough for them not to be ripped appart.

The castle had made a significant progress. It could still not register as a real building, but the gigantic rock was starting to take a recognizable form. Raiba didn't care about that though. He laid down somewhere abandoned in a collection of rocks between the Gillians that were standing guard and the rock that the other hollows were working on.

He just wanted to get some rest for a change.

* * *

**Author's notes:**

Ok, first off, for the people who actually read these notes, remember what I wrote in the last one, that bit about "proofread your own material"? As if to demonstarte in a very embarrasing fashion that I'm right, I didn't proofread my author's notes and well, you saw how that turned out. To my defense, I was pretty tired.

Moving on, we got this chapter to talk about. Some comedy, which I think I'm getting better at, a fun, new character (at least in my opinion. It_ is_ pretty fun to write him, more specifically his dialogue). Otherwise not much else, except maybe that there was pretty close to no fighting in this chapter. Well, that's because fights don't always have to happen with every encounter. We are talking about unique Hollows here, so I thought not all of them would want to start a fight to solve problems.

I've got other news for you though. Both good and bad. First the bad, as I always like to save desert for last.

Bad News is, that I'm gonna update at least one, maybe two and possibly a third one if things go well and I don't hit another block where I don't know how write certain important things and have to spend hours and hours of sitting in front of my laptop to stare at the words that are not writing themselves.  
Basically, in three to four weeks, I'm going on a vacation with my dad for four weeks. In that time I won't have Internet, so no updates for that time period, but that gets me to the good News.

Good news is, that I'll still be writing material during that vacation and when I get back I'll have a couple chapters to update at once.

Another big thank you for all you people out there who keep reading my stuff. Now that all of that is out of the way:

If you`ve got your own opinion or ideas, PM me, or, better yet, review the Story. I`ll always welcome constructive criticism.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Ikkaku Madarame

Two weeks. She had been at it for two weeks, day in and day out with a laser-like focus, but her efforts never yielded any success. Until now. Proudly, she was looking at the small sphere of channeled Reiatsu in her hand.

After Kiara had gotten back from her little field trip to squad six's Vice-Captain, she had started to test what he had taught her, to a statisfying degree. The suggestions he mentioned to her regarding her technique weren't groundbreaking by any means, but they were enough to make a noticeable difference.

But that had only amplified her disstatisfaction for not being able to master his other lesson. So she had shut herself in one of her hideouts and started to practice.

A wide smile formed on her face. She increased her output a little and concentrated the released Reiatsu into her sphere, after which it grew a little in size. Then she did the opposite and decreased the size of her sphere.

So far so good. Now as for her next step she was going to… what was the next step again? And that's when she realized that she had been so focused on learning this one task that she had completely forgotten that she had no idea what came next.

Vice-Captain Abarai had only ever given her that one instruction and nothing else. Damn it, there must be a way to find out more. She couldn't really just walk over to the 6th division grounds and go ask him about it, since first: she wouldn't even get past the guards, because she could hardly just walk by and say hi on her way in, not with the 6th division strict measurements for security.

Second: He probably wasn't even there, so even if she'd get in there somehow, it would probably be for nothing. Maybe someone in squad 4 could teach her something about the subject. She dismissed that thought however, since they would probably all be busy tending to the sick and injured.

She was thinking about asking one of the higher ups of the neighboring divisions, but quickly stopped that train of thought as well. She had heard some bits and pieces about the 10th division, specifically its Captain and Vice-Captain. What stood out the most was that the two of them were polar opposites, and that the Captain actually had to do the work of his Vice-Captain and not the other way around, like it is when higher-ups get too full of themselves because of their position.

Toshiro Hitsugaya was a focused person with an impeccable sense of duty, while Rangiku Matsumoto would always rather doze off or go shopping and have fun instead of taking care of her obligations as a vice-captain. Personalitywise, she would have been a perfect fit for squad 11.

Then there were divisions 3 and 13, in which she didn't know anyone at all, not even by name and she wasn't even thinking about making the stupid attempt of getting into the 2nd division, which was also in charge of the Onmitsukido, the stealth force.

She didn't want to go around and just ask random people either, especially when she didn't even know them by name. So, the only choice she had left was to go around and search for someone in her own division who could teach her more about Reiatsu-control.

That would be next to impossible though, since of all the divisions that existed in Seireitei hers just had to be the one that despised Kido and all of the sort.

The only person who could know something about it was her captain since he had to have a Bankai, because, well, he was the captian of a division.

_Damn it, the only one who could teach me is Makoto and he's still not here for whatever reason. The one who taught _him_ isn't even in my squad and is probably unavailable without a special invitation anyway._

Wait. What about the person who taught vice-captain Abarai? He _was _in her squad and if she was lucky, he wasn't even that far away.

She got up, exited her hideout and was blinded by pure light. Damn, was it noon already? She had completely lost all track of time while she was practicing. She strechted a bit and then started to look around.

_Now where could he be?_

Vice-captain Madarame Ikkaku, the man who trained the man who trained her master. She cursed herself for taking so long to figure that out.

She started walking towards the main building of the 11th division, to check if he was hanging out with her captain.

On her way there, she was spotted by several squad members. Some of which naturally flipped her off.

"I don't have the time or the nerves, so shut it", she yelled.

One of the bunch pursued her and responded with: "Oh come one, we don't see you for two weeks and then you don't even want to take on a fight?"

"What can I say, I'm taking after Makoto in the worst ways, now scare already." She really didn't want to fight now, but her adversary didn't back off. She eventually stopped and turned around.

"Fine, you know what? We'll fight bare handed and if I beat you, you'll stop getting on my nerves."

"It'll be your downfall, but hey, you wanted it this way", her opposite said with a cocky attitude. He looked like he was about her age, but already had a lot of scares. He was about the same height, had black hair and piercing golden eyes.

He took stance, but she had no intention of fighting fair and square. She just stood there and waited for him charge at her. He eventually made the mistake, to which she quickly rolled out of his way, grabbed a hand full of dirt from the ground and threw it into his eyes when he turned towards her. Then, she buried her fist deep in his stomach.

"Turns out it wasn't my downfall, who could have known, but hey, you wanted it this way", she said sheepishly. She gave him a little wink while he was groaning in pain.

Sometimes she worried that actions like that hurt her opponents too much, but she had learned that the people here were pretty hard to put down. That one boy in particular. His name was Akito Kobayashi and as she had found out with a little research after her visit at the 6th divison, he was one of the academy dropouts. Turned out squad 11 had quite a few of them.

Though Akito didn't really seem like a person to just drop out like that. She had fought with him numerous times now and judging by his technique alone, there was no reason for him to get kicked out. She had also talked with him a few times now and then and he didn't seem like he lacked the necessary intellect either. She eventually came to the conclusion that he was just not interested in anything else but fighting.

He was actually one of the incredibly idiotic people who once flipped off the captain.

That all didn't really matter to her right now though, since she had to get out of his sight fast so he wouldn't challenge her again. He always recovered annoingly fast.

She had to make a few more turns until she got to the main building. She reached it, but avoided to just go in through the front door, she really didn't want to become the center of attention, especially with captain Zaraki residing inside.

The division's main building wasn't anything spectacular, it was really quite the opposite. It was a very mundane long hall with only one floor, or better and simpler described, it was just a pretty big dojo.

She snuck around the building and looked at the inside through a window. Captain Zaraki was there as usual; accompanied by 3rd seat Ayasegawa and a lot of other members, who were dozing off, as per usual.

She really wanted to avoid having to step into this den full of bored fighting machines, there had to be another way. And then she saw her solution. At the end of the hall, a few men were sitting around drinking sake. Next to them, she saw a pile of already opened bottles and lucky for her, they were about to empty their last one. When that would happen, they would either fight over who'd have the honor of obtaining new supplies, or one of them would just do it themselves without any unnecessary complications.

She really hoped for solution number two (it would be so much faster), but she was also well aware that this _was_ the 11th division, so she tempered her expectations. She didn't have to wait long until they ran out of booze, but she had to wait considerably longer for them to fight out who'd go to get more.

And of all the things that could have happened, right now was the moment that Zaraki Kenpachi, captain of the 11th division, decided he was too bored for too long. He got up, took his bokken and with his signature joy-filled and a bit maniacal laugh, joined the fight. And ended it after a very short passage of time.

Afte that, a volunteer got up very quickly and stormed out the building to flee the impending doom that was his captain.

_Finally. _

She ran around the hall towards the entrance and found him catching his breath next to the door. "Never a good idea to start a fight in the presence of the captain."

"Oh hey, Kiara", he said between breaths. "Haven't seen you in weeks. What were you doing all this time?"

"Training."

"Seems legit."

"I've only lived here for four months, but even I understood very clearly not to mess with or provoke the captain in any way."

"Booze let's you forget many things, little lady. For example that you're not alone in the room, or that you live in squad 11, or that your captain is present."

"Yeah I noticed. Took a sneak from the window"; she said jolly.

"You did? Well good for you. What are you doing here anyway?"

"I'm actually looking for vice-captain Madarame, have you seen him?"

"Oh yeah. He's somewhere in his favorite spot with captain Tetsuzaemon, doing the same thing we are, but it's only them so, you know, kinda less crowded."

"Captain who?"

"Are you fucking kidding me right- oh right, it's you. Tetsuzaemon Ida, Captain of the seventh division and kind of a close associate of our vice-captain, you could call them friends, I don't know."

"And where would they be?"

"The 7th division's grounds, there's a large section of hills and trees apart from the buildings, covers about a third of their actual squad area, can't miss it. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta get outta here and get me some more booze before the captain kicks open these doors and-"

As if he had been waiting for a cue, catain Zaraki kicked open the doors and stepped out yelling: "Get back here you bastard! Nobody is gonna run away from a fight, not if I have a say about it! Where'd ya- oh there you are."

While the captain had been speaking, he had looked around frantically and eventually spotted his victim standing next to him. "Why the fuck are you hiding here?!"

"Ah, you see, captain Zaraki, I wasn't really hiding, you know the air in there was getting so thick and hot and I just had to catch some fresh air and-", his stuttering wasn't doing him any favors, as captain Zaraki interrupted him very apruptly.

"Oh really, that so? Well I hope ya got some real deep breaths, 'cause you're goin' back in there and stand your man like a man!", he yelled with his raspy voice.

Kiara would have given the poor guy her condolences, if she would have been stupid enough to stick around. Not that it would have done him any good. The moment the door was kicked open by her captain she had snuck out of sight around the corner of the dojo.

When she heard the doors closing, she carefully approached the corner and dared to sneak a peek around it to make sure that the captain wasn't actually still standing there, because he somehow noticed her and wanted to wait for her to make the mistake to just walk out in the open.

Luckily he wasn't there, but she still distanced herself from the hall rather fast, one could never be too sure.

She ran back and made the same turns as the ones she took on her way to the building, just to literally almost run into Akito.

"There you are. Get ready for a rematch and I swear, this time you won't get me so easily-"

"Akito, this is really not the time right now. I'd love- I mean I'd like- ok I'd let myself be talked into it on another day, but not today."

"Why? What's got you so hurried?"

"None of your business", she said and ran past him.

"I will get that fight, even if I have to find and break into all of your hideouts, I swear", he called after her.

"Well that's not creepy at all", she retorted.

She picked up her pace a bit and ran towards the entrance doors of squad 11. She passed them without seeing any guards what so ever. As per usual.

She had to make her way through the 10th division grounds all the way to the entrance of squad 7. She reached the entrance and tried to just walk through, but the guards stopped her.

"State your name and objective", one of the guards demanded.

"Kiara, in search of vice-captain Madarame."

"Full Name and occupation please", the guard insisted.

Kiara sighed. "Disciple of the 4th seat of the 11th division Souken Makoto, Kiara Rokusan."

"What do you require of the vice-captain?"

"I just need to talk to him, that's all."

"Then we are terribly sorry. The vice-captain gave specific instructions not to disturb him, except in case of an emergency."

"Can you at least tell him that I was looking for him?"

"Of course", the guard answered.

"Thank you."

Since she had basically no other choice (she could hardly hang around in squad 10 just for fun), she turned around and walked back towards her own district. After the gates of the 11th division entered her sight she realized that she had to deal with something else right now, as Akito was napping on the entrance of the squad grounds.

_Fucking- is there nothing else this guy has to do than literally wait for me to enter his vision, just so he can scream "rematch" in my face?_

She looked upon the entrance and read the number 11, to which she had to remind herself for the second time this day that this _was_ the 11th division. Waiting around for people to come by, just so they had an opportunity to yell at someone was literally what they did.

Well, she had to give him a chance for a rematch eventually, and he wouldn't get off her back about it until he got what he wanted. Which was annoying as hell. Still though, if she had to do fight him anyway, she could just as well pull a joke on him and get her Entertainments worth. Akito was even in the right spot, it was almost too convenient.

Slowly and carefully she climbed up the wall to the roof of the entrance. It took a lot more effort to get on top of the roof itself without rattling any of the tiles than she had thought. How had this been so easy for Makoto? Painfully slow step after painfully slow step, she got closer to Akito, who was still napping.

**(Bleach OST 3 Track 21: Cop's Robbers)**

When she was in a good enough position to catch him in case he'd trip over the edge like she did, she took a deep breath, got close to his ear, put her hands to her mouth and yelled: "What are you doing up here?"

As expected, he jolted up, yelled: "What?" and lost his footing, to which he fell over. Kiara caught him at his kimono at the last second, but it was difficult to hold him like that, since she was practically bursting with laughter.

"Pull yourself up, I can't hold you for much longer", she gasped between laughs.

"You think this is funny?", he said as he put his hands on the edge and pulled himself up. "Because it's not."

"You're right, it's hilarious", she replied, still laughing.

"Why are you here anyways? I thought you had something important to take care of."

She calmed down a little and still chuckling she answered: "Ah yeah, that. Let's say a… roadblock turned up and I can't get past that. My only option is to wait."

"Ok, but why are you_ here_? I thought I had to turn over every stone on this goddamn compound to find you."

"Well, since you're persistent as hell, I figured I had to fight you eventually. So, I wanted to do that _before_ you found and turned over all of my hideouts. Lesser of two evils, that sorta thing."

"And why'd you have to scare me awake like that? I could have actually fallen over the roof."

"Because you get on my nerves with your constant whining for a rematch. You and this whole squad really. It's not like you're not nice people or bad company or anything, but your reluctance to accept and or understand the meaning of the word "no" is, well, let's call it _spiritually taxing_."

"Well I'm not gonna say it's your fault for being the disciple of the 4th seat, but it is kinda your fault because you're so strong. Also, you let yourself be provoked too easily. And you can't tell me you're not having fun during fighting, I've seen the smile on your face."

"First off, I am not strong, I'm just training day in and out like there's nothing else in my life. If any of you lazy people would actually do the same for once instead of dozing off all the time, you'd be on par and or way beyond my level. Second off… well okay I can't really argument against that. And third I don't smile when I fight."

"Yeah, you do, you should see yourself. Sometimes, it's almost like the captain has a daughter, you smile just like him. Well, not _exactly _like him, he's still more maniacal and waaaay crazier and I don't think you'll ever beat him at that. Still, whenever you fight, you look like you're having a good time."

"I don't know if I should take offense to the part where you just said I could be the daughter of a battlecrazed psychopath, or if I should actually take it as a very strange compliment."

"It's not really meant as either. It's just a comparison."

Kiara didn't really know what to do with that, so she changed the subject. "So, your oh so beloved rematch."

"Oh yeah, totally. You wanna change locations first, or do you wanna do it right here?"

"Of course I don't wanna do it on the roof of our squad entrance where every idiot can watch", she said at a high volume, which she regretted immediately, because of course somebody was listening on the ground.

"Oh my, are you two this close already?"; a voice asked mockingly from down below.

"Go fuck yourself Riku", Kiara retorted.

"Can you say that in sign language? My ears aren't what they used to be."

"You mean like this?", she asked viciously and flipped him off. And instantly realized that she was practically demonstrating a textbook example of proving Makotos earlier point

"Ah, a fight? We can go right now, no problem, I accept your challenge!", Riku said with a self-statisfied smile.

"See, this is what I mean when I say you let yourself be provoked too easily."

"I literally couldn't care less. Looks like our rematch needs to wait a little, I've got some fools to beat."

"So long as I get that rematch its fair game, go for the throat."

"God knows I'd love to sometimes."

"…who are you talking about exactly? If you say things like that I get a little worried, especially because it's you."

"I hope you don't mind me keeping that to myself", she said and with these words she drew her sword with the scabbard on, released her Spiritual pressure and jumped towards the ground. The landing could have been better, but considering she had just jumped about 5 meter downwards, the tumbling she had to perform to keep her balance was acceptable.

She was about to engage in the fight, but scolded herself immediately.

_Makoto said wait to fight with released Spiritual pressure._

She let her flow of Reiatsu run dry and took her stance, while her opponent was just standing there, most likely baffled from watching her jumping down a small building with relative ease.

When she started moving towards him though, he snapped out of it and readied himself. He was taller than her and had more muscle mass, to which she concluded his advantages to be bigger range and more powerful attacks. So what she would bet on was her agility and quick attacks that might not be as devastating as one of his but just as deadly.

She moved slower towards him the closer she got. She wanted to provoke him into making a premature move that she could exploit.

She saw from the little twitches in his facial expression and his whole stance that he was getting ready to strike. She just had to get a little bit closer, so that she'd definitively be in his range.

Everything happened unexpectadly quick as soon as she was about one meter away from him. He made a half-step forwards and attempted a swing from above which she redirected to the ground and swung her blade towards his throat, only to stop it before it almost made contact.

He just stood there, petrified by the coated blade at his throat. "I win", Kiara simply said, put her sword back into her belt, turned around and walked away.

"Hey", he screamed after her. "This wasn't a real fight, I want a-"

"Rematch, I know, get in line. You'll get one eventually, just not today. I gotta deal with that idiot up on the entrance first, he got the jump on me before you did." Unnerved, she stopped in front of the ,looked up and said: "Akito, get down here, we're chaning locations."

No Answer.

"Hey, Akito"

Still no answer.

"I swear, if you're sleeping again, I'll kick you off that damned edge myself this time."

"Hey hey hey, relax, I'm not asleep", he said while chuckling a little.

"Then get down here", she retorted.

"Calm down already, not everyone can just flare up purple and then jump down a building."

_Flare up purple?_

He took a few seconds, but eventually came down step by step climbing carefully until the last two meters, which he jumped down himself.

He patted some dust off his clothes and then asked: "Alright where to?"

"The dojo", she answered scarcely.

He nodded and followed her. They took the fastest route, so any further interruptions would not happen, or at least Kiara hoped so. Her hopes paid off for once, as there were merely some people flipping them off.

They arrived at the dojo, slid the door open and entered. On the inside, Akito started to look and wander around a bit, as if he was inspecting the furniture.

"Haven't been in here for a while. Never changes though." He kept walking around the heightened training plateau, until he stumbled, looked back and pointed to something on the ground. "But that's new. Who or what happened here?"

Kiara walked over to him and saw that he was pointing to the whole in the ground she had put there while preventing herself from flying through the wall. "Oh that was me. When I trained here with Makoto last time, I put my bokken there to stop myself. I'm surprised they didn't patch that already."

"Stop yourself from what exactly?"

"From flying through the wall", she answered nonchalantly. "Makoto let me try out something new and I ended up being too fast, to which I catapulted myself towards the wall, so I rammed my bokken in the ground to not do that."

"Your bokken. The same bokkens that are standing there on the wall, with a blunt edge" he said.

"Yeah exactly. That one in the middle of the second holder to be precise. Speaking of; you wanna do this with real swords or with those over there? Upside of them is you can go all out, downside is, well, broken bones are pretty much guaranteed."

"Real swords?", he asked.

"Of course with the scabbard on, as it always is when we fight outside", she reassured him. "Another upside; you don't have to worry about damaging your scabbard with these", she added and pointed to the wooden swords.

He nodded in agreement and she walked over to get two of them. She tossed him one and when he caught it, he looked surprised. "They are lighter than real swords, even without the scabbard on. Were they always this light?"

"Have you never actually held one of these before?"

"It's been a while", he remarked.

She just shook her head and went up to the fighting ground. He followed her and both took their fighting stances. And so they began. The fight wasn't as intense as Kiara had thought it would be, but it was still challenging. Akito was actually a pretty adept fighter himself, when he fought seriously.

The first match ended with Akito being victorious and Kiara could have just let it be like this and be done with it, but there was a certain part of her that just couldn't. The second match ended in her favor now Akito was the on who couldn't leave it be (nothing new really). It went on and on and before they knew it, they had been at it for about two hours. This was actually nice. Just a normal training session without any unnecessary beatings and profound speeches. Kiara actually caught herself thinking about doing this more often and it was around that time that Akito called for a break.

He put his sword on the ground and sat down, breathing a bit heavy. "Damn, this is exhausting. How long can you keep this up?"

"Don't know, never really trained this way."

"What do you mean "this way"?"

"I mean that my training never really consisted of fighting with a reasonable intensity, so it's just a good sparring match. The "sparring matches" i've had the… yeah, no, I can't even call it a pleasure sarcastically. The matches I've… experienced? Yeah I guess that works. The matches I've experienced so far were either Makoto tossing a sword at me and yell "defend yourself", or him tossing a sword at me and yell "attack me". So, mostly him throwing a sword at me. Don't get me wrong, he did teach me the basics, but not much after that."

"It's really this bad?"

Kiara sat down herself and thought a bit before she answered. "It's not… _that _bad. There are occasionally some pretty rewarding lessons, but Makotos way of teaching is, well, through experience. He thinks failure is the best way to learn, so right when you find something that could give you an edge, he realizes that and let's you fail in a way that gets you feeling like you're back to square one. The Goal is to get you to think and figure out how to use what you've discovered more effficiently, but it's still a bit... disstatisfying."

This was very true, as Kiara thought back to the last fight she had had with him. A shudder took hold of her and she remembered the unhealthy soud her body had made when it came into contact with the floor in a never-before-seen Fashion, which was a bit of a small sensation. When he actually tried, Makoto could get very creative with his smack-downs.

"Wow. Ever thought about quitting?"

"Sometimes. But then again, that'd get me nowhere, so I just kept pressing on, since this was pretty much all I had. It's not that bad anymore though, really. The interesting things are starting to happen now, so I'm sure as hell not going to just walk away. Besides, if I did, I'd actually have to go to the academy and I'm not really that much of a people Person."

Akito blinked a few times before he said very sincerely: "You're pretty amazing, you know that?"

She was surprised by that. All this time she thought that the boy was just big talk and a pain in the ass, just like the rest of the damned group, but he was starting to set himself apart.

"By the way, what time is it?"

She simply pointed to the wall opposite the entrance where a watch was placed. He followed the direction of her finger and found it.

"Damn, this late already?"

"What, you got places to be? Oh, or maybe someone else to yell the word at? Or after?"

"Actually, both", he said in a cheery manner. That was weird. She thought he'd take offense to that. She looked at him interested and waited a bit until she realized he didn't take the hint.

"Well, are you gonna tell me?"

"Oh, you wanted to know? I thought you were busy."

"Yes, busy waiting for our vice-captain, who's somewhere I can't go and I don't know when he will be back."

"Where he at?"

"Squad 7, doing something with the captain of that division. Maybe a mission or something."

Suddenly, Akito burst out in laughter after she uttered that sentence. "What, did i say something wrong?"

Still chuckling, he calmed himself down and said: "No, no not at all. It's just that I sometimes forget that you still don't know _a lot _about the Gotei 13. The vice-captain is not on a mission. Well, he is on one, but the goal is to get as drunk as somehow possible. Trust me, when the dude gets home, and that will be in the night, he'll be so damn hammered, he'll be yelling at a tree if the floor is made out of floor and I ain't even kidding. That's actually happened before. So whatever you want from him, if it's anything other than booze, I'm afraid today ain't your lucky day."

"Fuck", she cursed. How was it that even the higher ups in this squad were lazy drunks?

"Alright, so were are you going?", she repeated her question.

"The 1st division grounds."

"The hell kinda business do you have going on there?"

"I don't, actually. I'm just going to welcome the twins out of prison."

"…and the twins are?"

"How can you not know- oh right it's you. I'm sorry", he said holding his hands up as she glared at him. "It wasn't meant as an insult, it was more of a reminder for myself. The twins", he continued and thereby avoided a rant about how Kiara slowly but surely had enough of people making remarks about her in that regard, "are somewhat of a modern legend."

He got up and walked towards the wall to put his bokken back in its holder while he was talking. "They transferred to the 11th about a year ago, right around the time when they broke into the research facility led by the captain of the 12th division. What makes them legends is that they didn't break into it because they wanted to steal anything, but simply to because they could and to see how far they would get. When they were caught, they provided the central 46 with the information on how they did it and that's why they only got prison for one year."

"Seems a bit tame for the central 46."

"They are also on parole now and if they get caught with anything major like that ever again in the next twenty years, they are provided as voluntary test subjects for the research departement."

"Ah, there it is."

"Right so- wait, you know who the central 46 are?"

"Makoto took me there to register me in the 11th division when he took me in. I also got my Zanpakutou there, so yeah I know of them."

"Makes sense. So, wanna tag along? You don't look like you're up to anything else in the next few hours."

She thought a bit about it, but had to admit he was right, so she said: "Fine. But I swear, if you even so much as attempt to say the words "let's fight", I will gut you with an honest-to-god smile on my face."

"Duly noted. Would mean that we have to leave right now though, they're gonna be released in an hour or so."

She got up as well and put her bokken back as well. Then she turned to Aktio and asked: "Well, what are we waiting for?"

**Author's notes:**

Alright, another one done. Little bit mundane, not really much happens here, except a little bit of humor and introducing new characters. Don't really have much to say on that, except that the thing with Ikkaki and Testuzaemon was actually in the anime, so I thought maybe take that a little further.

It also might seem that this side of the story doesn't really have that much happening in it, at least from Kiara's perspective and that's kinda true, but it won't take that much longer until it gets some traction as well and shit starts going down. Setsuzo's side of the story does get bit more action and more things happening at a faster rate, I admit that, then again you gotta see that Soul Society is at peace right now since it's been almost four and a half years since Yhwachs defeat, so they're pretty mellow right now, at least I think so. In the real world we wouldn't be so chill right after a literal war, at least we weren't in the fifties. Or sixties. Or seventies. Damn my dad grew up in a really depressing timeperiod. Anyway, this is not the real world, it's Soul Society and Hueco Mundo is, well, Hueco Mundo. As long as you don't reign supreme it's survival of the fittest.

Not much more to say, so...

If you`ve got your own opinion or ideas, PM me, or, better yet, review the Story. I`ll always welcome constructive criticism.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Death is not fair

"You want us to do what now and why again?", Raiba asked in his lazy provocative tone. After all this time, Setsuzo couldn't believe that he was still getting through with that.

"Don't test my patience. I told you what you have to do, now do it."

Without any more protest, Raiba turned around and walked towards Setsuzo. They didn't need to prepare anything for this mission, they didn't even need their Gillians. In fact, anything that wasn't necessary could actually end up killing the two of them.

Their mission was simple enough. Go to the human world, wait for someone to commit an unforgivable crime (so basically murder), kill that person so he turns into a hollow and bring him to Bainne.

There was a problem though, namely that they had to go to the human world. A place even Bainne shat his pants the moment he stepped into it. Setsuzo had already had a rather unpleasantly surprising encounter with one of the stranger resident individuals.

What made everything worse was that when he told Bainne, the latter had told him with utter seriousness that compared to what was lurking in there, the man Setsuzo had encountered was but a mere small fry. Great. If the small fry's already outranked him, how hillariously inferior would he be to the real deal?

That however was also one of their advantages. Even if they were among the stronger side of lower hollows, they were nothing compared to any of the people living in that world that were capable of fighting hollows like themselves. So if they could suppress their Reiatsu sufficiently enough, they wouldn't even be noticed.

If. And that was a very big if right there.

But since they pretty much didn't have any other choice, well, they did, but that choice was to turn around blow up into Bainnes face and tell him to essentially go fuck himself and with that practically sign their death sentence themselves. They could try to run, but they'd only prolong the inevitable.

So all they could do was to go the safer route and do what he had commanded. "Safer" was also a little ironic here, since both ways could get them killed.

"How would we even do this? I mean seriously, does he expect that we see a potential candidate to walk around and present him or herself to us on a silver plate?", Raiba complained.

"Nobody knows what he expects. You've been here more than two months now and you should know that. And you do, since I know you're not as dumb as you let yourself appear to be, so if you just need someone to lash out on, go to Leòn to cry your eyes out."

"Oh wow, somebody's really feelin' the sunshine and rainbows today, huh", Raiba dryly remarked, to which he got a scoff from Setsuzo. "That marks the question though, why can't Leòn take care of this? He should be more qualified, what with his experience and all."

"Definitely, yeah. I'd certainly be happier if he went and not us."

"That's awefully mean-spirited of you, especially against him. Also, are you being sarcastic? You're moving in between that gray area again where I can never tell."

"No, I ain't sarcastic for a change and I thought you didn't like Leòn."

"Oh by all means, go for the throat. It's just that being mean is uncharacteristic for you. Also, it's not like I like him, but after about two months he kinda grows on you. His "all-high-and-noble" behavior is kinda fun to observe sometimes, you should see how he talks to other hollows. Not that I'd have to tell that to you, you two basically got along instantly. Which is why you saying that he should go instead of us is even stranger."

"He's only one person. Less chance of someone dying and less chance of someone finding out that he's actually there. Also I don't feel real jazzed about going back there."

"Well, you wouldn't be the first. Why is that exactly?"

"You've surely been there, you should know."

"No I wasn't."

Setsuzo stopped and looked at Raiba from the side. "Are you tryin' to tell me that you've never been to the human world?"

"Yes, except I'm not trying to tell you, I'm just telling you."

Setsuzo rolled his eyes but started to explain anyways. "Alright, look. The human world is a real freakshow. I've only been there once, but I don't remember the… experience fondly. Humans normally can't see, hear or interact with us in general. We can with them, but they not with us. The one time I actually went there, I started to fuck around a little bit with them to test the possibilitys."

"Doesn't sound so fear-inducing to me."

"And then a human with spiritual powers showed up."

Raiba stopped for a moment there. "Right, I knew I forgot something."

"He then proceeded to outrun me and manifested some kind of black armor on his arm? I don't know what it was, but his Spiritual pressure exceeded mine by far, even as I am now. I mean you know that already, but here it comes: The most seizureinducing part, in that it is both frustrating and terrifying, is that compared to the biggest fish lurking around there, he's what little worms are to Bainne."

"And that would be?", Raiba asked with tense anticipation.

"Worms", Setsuzo dryly answered, which got him a disappointed look from his partner.

"Ok, so, why don't we search fo a "sinner" in another city, or perhaps even another country?"

"Because I'm buried there."

"And the decomposing leftovers that are your corpse are important to you how exactly?"

"Not my body. The tombstone that's on top of it. When I woke up 5 months ago, I didn't even know my own name. Specific names for certain things and actions slowly come back to my mind, you know, the practical and everyday knowledge, but my actual memories? Nothing but fog. I don't even know how old I am and I'm sure as hell not gonna die again without knowing who I was before I died."

Raiba nodded slowly and then said: "Apart from the fact that I get where you're coming from, this is still nuts if we're assuming everything we know about the human world is true. How would that even work? You find that stonecross put in the dirt, read the name on it and just magically remember your whole life?"

"Worked kinda like that last time I was there."

"Wow, really?", Raiba asked surprised. "Ok, you know what, fuck it, I'm in. We're probably on death's row anyway, so might as well make it worth the risk."

"…you are way too casual about the possibility of us dying and way too easily persuaded into doing dumb shit, you know that?"

Raiba just snickered and winked at him. "It sounds weird but could possibly be fun and you know how I feel about that."

Setsuzo just rolled his eyes, took a few steps in front of Raiba and reached out with his hand. "I've only done this once, so I'll need some time to concentrate. Once the Garganta is open, you go through it immediately. When we're on the other side, we'll have to suppress our Reiatsu immediately, or we're fucked."

"I mean, I could open one too, but sure, got it." Setsuzo ignored that, as he had already closed his eyes to focus. He tried to remember the feeling he had when he had opened that portal, but this time he chose to concentrate more on the sensation itself instead of his panic-like emotional state.

It took him a while to get a grasp on it, but eventually, he had something. An image of two walls being torn open and connected by a short tunnel. What he actually intended to do was a lot more complicated than that, but he didn't want to delve into it too deep. He knew what he wanted to do and he understood it subconciously, but if he had to describe it, he would fail horribly. He activated his Reiatsu and started utilizing the technique. It happened faster than he had expected and as he felt his action taking form, he opened his eyes.

It felt really strange to look at the Garganta. It was like a speck of Color on a bland canvas, or at least that's how Setsuzo would describe it if he had to. A flat rooftop was to be seen on the other side of the Gateway, a perfect exit point

The humans currently had daytime, so seeing wasn't a problem, even from Hueco Mundo. They both looked at each other and nodded approvingly. Then, one after another, they went through.

ooo

"This is boring", Raiba commented.

About 4 hours had passed since they had gone through the Garganta and they hadn't moved ever since, waiting for it to get dark. They were still sitting on the rooftop of a skyscraper that gave them a pretty good view of the city. Not really much had happened since then. In fact, nothing had happened. The people were asleep, almost no windows were lit up and little to no humans were on the streets.

"Are you sure that the unholy crossing of death and destruction is living in this neighborhood?"

"First, I never called him that. Or her. Or it, don't know, don't care. Second, He's a human, so he's probably asleep right now, since, you know, it's night time and all."

"Or she or it", Raiba added jokingly.

"Not relevant", Setsuzo quipped back.

"Says you."

"If something, or someone was to kill you with absolute certainty, would you care about that fucker's gender?"

"It'd be nice if it were at least hot."

"Regardless of the gender? Didn't know you swung in both directions."

"Just because someone is hot, doesn't mean that I'm attracted to them. Also, I'm not bisexual. All I'm saying is that among all the unpleasant things we've seen, being killed by someone good-looking would be at least some kind of solace."

Setsuzo wanted to counter something, but couldn't really think of anything, so he nodded in agreement. "You're a weird person, you know that?", he asked.

"Oh really? How so?"

"You find positive aspects in certain occurences where nobody else would even go looking for them, much less know where to look in the first place."

"It's one of my gifts. When you lead a life like we do, you gotta do whatever it takes to distract yourself from the grimmer aspects of it. You know, enjoy the little things. If we don't, we're just mindless monsters driven by instinct."

"And there it is", Setsuzo exclaimed. "The smart side of yourself that you always keep hidden from Bainne. Actually displaying that in his presence would maybe make him like you a bit more, don't you think?"

"Yeah, but by doing that, I'd be giving him exactly what he wants, which is to take his whole schtick serious and I ain't doing that. I mean, come on. The hell does he even need an army for anyway?"

"I have no damned idea. Maybe he wants to take over Hueco Mundo, maybe he wants to kill all the Shinigami, I couldn't tell you."

"And you have no idea what the greater scheme of his goals are?"

"No I don't. As a matter of fact, I don't have any clue about what he wants, what he's fighting for, if he's actually intelligent and calm or insane and greedy. I know nothing about him except the fact that he's absolutely terrifying when he wants to be and he's stronger than all of us, which means he could kill us all if he just wanted to. To him, we are like tools, once we aren't of use to him anymore, he'll dispose of us."

"If that's so, why do you even follow him?"

"... is that a real question?"

"I mean apart from the fact that he pretty much forced us into doing it. I wanna know your actual reasons, there has to be somethinng else except "I'm only doing it because he'll kill me otherwise". Am I wrong?"

That was a valid question. One Setsuzo hadn't even thought about himself. Why _did_ he follow Bainne? Nothing really came to mind, so he just shrugged his shoulders and said: "I couldn't tell you, honestly." Raiba gave him aa disbelieving glance.

"Alright let me phrase it differently. If the powergap between him and us were non-existent, if there was nothing he could hold over us, what would be your reasoning for following him?"

Setsuzo gave it another few seconds of thought until he could settle on an answer this time. "I guess it gives me purpose. If it wouldn't be for Bainne, the only thing on my mind would be the next meal. Now, I constantly have something to do, I'm not a mindless monster, I'm actually acomplishing something. Or at least that's how I feel about it and frankly, that's enough for me at the moment."

"Purpose, huh?", Raiba concluded thoughtful.

Setsuzo sighed and leaned back to gaze upon the sky. It was a cloudless night, just like it was last time he had been in the human world. Once again, the sky was bearing that soothing dark blue, sprinkled with stars and a full moon.

"That's a pretty interesting answer. On to other Topics though", Raiba said. "When exactly do you plan on checking on your grave? I mean now would be a good time."

"Now is also a good time for murderers and grave sinners to do their deed, so I'd say we stay put. Once we find our candidate and do what we have to do, we can go looking for the graveyard. Who knows how long I'll need to remember."

Now Raiba nodded in agreement and leaned back as well. "Alright, then let's do some detective work."

"As per usual, you're gonna have to explain that one a little more detailed."

"If we wanna find a murderer, then we can't do it from up here. We gotta narrow it down to some places, since we can't just aimlessly stroll around in the city and hope to just luck out and stumble on one. So, we gotta do some detective work to deduce where a murder would most likely happen."

"Does it have to be a murderer? Aren't there any other acts of violence or something that would categorize as an unforgivable sin?"

"Probably, but a murderer is our safest bet. Now, what would be the perfect place to commit murder?"

"Abandoned ones", Setsuzo answered. "Preferably ones that are away from police stations, like abandoned factories, or construction sites on the outer border of the city. The woods would be a good start as well."

"Hold up, didn't you say you have no memories of when you were a human?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Then how do you even know that these words exist, let alone know what they mean?"

"Last time I was here, I found the graveyard where I was buried, right? Back then, I couldn't even tell that trees normally have leafs on them, unlike those in Hueco Mundo. I didn't even know what a street was, or a house, the only things I recognized were the humans. When I got to the graveyard, bits and pieces of my memories started to come back to me. From there on out, my knowledge about the human world started to return, but my memories are still nowhere to be seen. So yeah, I know what a police station, or a construction site and a fire truck are, hell, I even know what a stripclub is, but I still don't even know my favorite color."

"You care about your favorite color?", Raiba snickered.

"It was just an example, besides, I told you that already, pay attention", Setsuzo retorted. "Anyways, if you don't have a specifically prepared basement, those would be the spots I'd pick."

"What about dark alleyways? Think about it, murder can happen in many instances, for example during a simple robbery. Or an attempted rape."

"True that, gross though."

"It's a dark part of human nature, as unfortunate as it is. A shootout could also happen, for example during a gang rivalry."

"You think there are gangs or drug cartels in Karakura town?"

"It's a relatively big town, it's not improbable. If we were to bet on gangs or cartels, we should check the factories and warehouses first."

Setsuzo got up and started looking around. The factories were fairly easy to find, on the outer part of the city, but it was unclear if those were actually empty. Only one way to find out.

"Alright, let's go", he said and jumped on a smaller building nearby. Raiba followed his example and both got down to the streets and ran straight towards their Destination. It didn't take them long to get there and even less time to inspect if it was a place used for shady activities.

They were in luck as it actually looked empty and worn down, with holes in the fences, leaned on doors and loose papers floating around everywhere. They went inside to check if anybody was in there, but with that, they were not in luck. They went outside again to decide where they'd go next.

"There's an old train station that's out of service not far from here, we could go check there next", Raiba said.

"What direction?"

Raiba pointed towards the east. Setsuzo was about to go into that direction before he stopped and turned towards his partner.

"Did you live here before you became a Hollow?"

"Yeah, but I didn't grow up here. We moved to this town about two years before I died."

"Then how do you know spots like an old trainstation? More specifically, how do you know it's out of Service?"

"I was a curious person back then. Also, those were the places were you could smoke weed and drink alcohol and throw parties without the police turning up on your ass the moment the word "illegal" leaves your mouth."

If Setsuzo could have lifted an eyebrow that was visible for his opposite, he would have definitively done it.

"Oh don't look at me like that", Raiba said, as if he had read Setsuzo's mind. "We both know that you know, or at least guessed, that I was already a… let's call it "no risk, no fun"-person."

"Trust me, I could have confirmed that without this bit."

"Well you got it anyway, hurray, now you know me a little better, change of topics. Trainstations that way."

_I'm not so sure if knowing you a little better is worth a hurray_, Setsuzo thought to himself sarcastically, but left the sentence unspoken. He knew he treasured that man as a companion, even if they only knew each other for about two and a half months. Setsuzo was pretty sure that he would likely never find someone else who was this much on the same wavelength as he was.

"Lead the way mr. cityguide", he opted for instead in only a slightly mocking tone. It was dark and he couldn't really see all of Raiba's features, but he just knew that his partner was rolling his eyes right now.

He took the lead anyway and guided Setsuzo towards the station. The latter however couldn't shake an uneasy feeling that he had felt from the moment he had taken a step into this city. And it was getting stronger the closer they got to that station.

When they reached their destination, Setsuzo immediately jumped on the building to look around and check if he saw any kind of suspicious person walking around, like that dark-skinned dude from last time, but he saw nothing. Then he slowly turned around in a circle to check the buildings, but the only noteable establishements he saw were a shopping district, a hospital and… a clinic.

And all his alarmbells started ringing like there was no tomorrow. This was the place. How did he not feel that before?

The uneasy feeling he had gotten since they stepped foot into this city was coming from that clinic. That much was crystal clear, now that he could see it. He squinted his eyes to read the sign above the entrance that was only lit by scarce street light.

Kurosaki clinic.

Raiba jumped on the roof and looked at the clinic as well. "You felt it since we got here too, didn't you?"

"You're damn right I felt it. Whatever gets Bainne to wet his pants lives in that clinic. And is sleeping right now, so let's get this over with as fast as we can and then get the hell away from this place. We might be suppressing our Spiritual pressure to the absolute max, but we don't know what these people are capable of."

He noticed Raibas head moving and took it as a silent nod. The tension had suddenly gone up a few notches, as the two Hollows changed their previous lax attitude to a serious one. Both got down and started to search the train station in a frantic hurry. They only looked inside the building, since they could not risk to make any noise, unless they wanted to wake the neighborhood.

Once again, they found nothing. No flashlights, no shots fired, no muffled screams, nothing at all. They didn't bother to check anymore than was neccassary and got the hell out of there. Only when they were on the opposite side of the town, they allowed themselves to catch their breath and calm down.

"Alright, so going back there is sure as hell not an option", Raiba said.

Setsuzo didn't comment on that, he was just glad that they actually made it without being made. "Alright", he said after a few moments, "you know any other places we could check? Preferrably on this side of the town?"

Raiba let out a small laugh. "Not much. There's a highschool and a park. Alternatively, in the direction we just came from is an abandoned hospital. It's way further away from that clinic though, so I think that shouldn't be a problem. Those are the only places I can think of where something could possibly happen."

"No, I don't think that a murder is gonna happen in a highschool, or a park. The highschool is closed in the night and too populated in the daytime, a dead body would immediately be noticed. A park is too much in the open and you're seen way too easy. Sadly, the only place that would bear the possibility is-"

"The abandoned hospital. I kinda knew you'd say that."

"We gotta check it. When were done there, we can search every dark alley on this side of the city."

"Tell me again why we are risking our lives for this."

"Because we don't do half-assed jobs and if we know that it is safe, we do what we can."

"Safe is pretty objective here, but hey, why not. You're taking a risk, so I guess my influence is finally robbing off on you."

"I don't really know if that's a good thing or not."

"Let's leave that as it is and continue when our live isn't in imminent danger", Raiba said with a smile.

He turned around and started to run back the way they just came from. Setsuzo followed him and when they got to their next destination, he estimated that the distance to that damned clinic was at last four times as much as the trainstation, so they sould be fine.

"Let's split up", Setsuzo suggested. "It'll be faster this way. You start at the top, I'll start from the bottom."

Without a retort, Raaiba started to climb up the outside of the building, while Setsuzo went in through the front entrance. It wasn't locked, so that could be a good sign for success this time.

Even though he was not that big compared to other hollows, he still had to duck a little to avoid bumping his head on the ceiling. He rushed through the basement, only focusing on what he heard and occasionaly opening a door to closed rooms.

The reception and waiting rooms had nothing to offer, not that they were in question to begin with. There was one emergency room and some normal dormrooms, but nothing was out of the ordinary. They were all empty, except for the trash maybe that surely had been left behind by teenagers or people who liked to spend time in an abandoned hospital. He even checked the restrooms, but no luck (hell of a smell though).

So, he went up to the second floor and did the same there. There was no receiving room this time, instead there were just more operating rooms. The smell was pretty bad, but it didn't smell like fresh blood. On the other hand, somebody could have been suffocated, so blood wasn't really a reliable intel to go on.

Once again, he checked every room, but came up short. Fuck. This was taking too long and he didn't like it at all.

He got to the third floor and started searching again.

Operating rooms.

Hospital rooms.

Rest rooms.

And still nothing. He was almost through, when he heard Raiba coming down through the stairs. In hopes he had had better luck with their search, he turned around and looked at him, only to get a disappointed headshake. He also shook his head and indicated to get the hell out of there.

They got on the roof and started to go back to the northern side of the city. Once they reached a high enough building, they sat down on top of it and loosened up a little.

As always, Raiba was the first to speak. "Well, that was a fruitful night."

"Tell me about it."

"Gotta be honest with you, I don't think that something is gonna go down tonight."

"Yeah, guess you're right."

"The hell does Bainne want a sinner for anyway? They aren't really more powerful or anything like that, at least according to what I know."

That got Setsuzo thinking. Why _did_ Bainne want a sinner specifically? "Are you sure that there's nothing special about sinners who turnedd into Hollows? No noteable quality, unique appearance, aura or anything of the sort?"

"They go to hell when they're killed by a Shinigami."

"Shot in the dark, maybe it's got something to do with that", Setsuzo guessed.

"Let's ask him when we get back. Who knows, maybe we'll even get an answer."

"Either that or another death threat. Let's just call it a day and get some sleep. I'll take the first guarding shift."

"Alright", Raiba answered and let himself fall on his back.

ooo

Setsuzo opened his eyes and immediately closed them again and turned around. He had been lying in a position where the sun shone right into his face. He slowly opened his eyes again, this time in the shadow of his own body and let them adjust.

It must have been late in the morning, since the sun had already risen above the horizon. He got up and looked around to see that Raiba was sitting on the edge of the rooftop.

"Morning", Setsuzo said still a little sleepy.

Raiba snorted and gave him a nod, then looked back towards the town. "So, feeling like you're up for a visit to the cemetary?"

"It's daytime, so the probability of a murder happening is bar to none. Sure, let's go, but we gotta be very careful, even more so than in the night. These special individuals could be anywhere, so if we see something suspicious, we Garganta and out."

"You got it", Raiba retorted and got up. "So how should we get there, by roof or by street?"

"Both have their disadvantages. We're easier to see by roof, but we'd have a greater distance to them once they spot us, so technically, we should be able to take countermeassures. We'd be less obvious by foot, but if we happen to run across one of them, they're much closer, so reacting to that could prove to be pretty difficult."

"Well then, which one do we take?"

"Why're you asking me?"

"You came up with it, you can choose what we do. Besides, tactical planning and that sorta shit is more your kind of thing anyway."

Setsuzo thought about it a little and then said: "We go by foot. If they see us, we can scatter and both use individual Garganta do get away. They may be faster, but we're prepared so that maneuver should confuse them for long enough to get out."

"Street it is", Raiba concluded and started to get down via the lower roofs. Setsuzo followed his example and after both had landed they started walking at a relatively fast pace, while Setsuzo took the lead.

Now that it was daytime, the city was a lot more livelier and humans were walking around everywhere, stores were open and cars driving down the street. Several showcase windows also had televisions broadcasting news like:

"…the weather is going to be rather mild…"

"…regarding the fuel station that became victim of a robbery last week…"

"…and today, on the 17th of June, we have…"

It was almost a bit obnoxious. They kept walking straight towards the forest. Nothing major happened on the way there. Special individuals were nowhere to be seen and none of the normal humans seemed to be able to see them. When they walked past a park with a playground, a little kid tripped face first in the sandbox, which Raiba found to be absolutely hilarious.

They reached the forest and walked right through it instead of taking the normally cemented pathway up to the cemetary, that way they had some cover. They reached the graveyard and Setsuzo stepped out of the forest to once again ty and find his tombstone, this time intentionally.

He slowly walked between the crosses that were steepd into the ground and stopped in the middle of it, taking in the atmosphere of the area, as if it would help him remember, all while Raiba stayed behind him in the forest and observed.

Very slowly, the bits and pieces started coming back to him. He closed his eyes, but still saw himself walking around it. From a lower angle. When he was smaller. When he was human.

He opened his eyes and took a few deep, shivering breaths.

Yes, it was actually working. Now, he just had to keep at it.

He closed his eyes again and started to sink back in his trance-like state. He slipped back into his smaller body and saw things from that perspective again. He was walking towards a small assembly of people. They were all dressed in black. It wasn't raining, but it was about to, as they sky had a very dark grey tone to it. He got closer to the group and saw that they were crying.

He called out to them, asked them what was going on, but nobody heard him. Nobody turned around, or reacted to him, they just stood there.

He called out their names, but still nothing. He walked around and suddenly felt something brushing his leg and heard a faint cracking noise, as if he had stomped on a twig. He looked to the ground and saw nothing but dirt. He looked up again and dismissed the occurrence immediately, focusing on the people in front of him once more and got in front of them to-

Suddenly, something ripped him out of his trance and when he turned around he was greeted by the sight of a terrified Raiba. And now that he was snapped out of his Trance,k he also realized what brushed against his leg. A woman was lying on the ground, screaming in pain as on of her legs was horribly deformed.

"Dude, something is coming our way, we need to leave, like, now, like RIGHT THE FUCK NOW!"

"What why?", Setsuzo asked confused and tried to make sense of his Partners rambling.

"When she started screaming I noticed a terrifying Spiritual pressue, the one we felt coming from the clinic, which is why we need to-"

Setsuzo took a moment, but then he felt it too. He had been so concentrated on remembering that he had completely missed it. Now, that uneasy feeling had returned, but it was dialed up to eleven and turned into something else entirely. Before both of them could react, it hit them.

**( Bleach OST Jigoku Hen: Incantation Parte C )**

Fear.

Overwhelming sheer fucking terror froze the two hollows to their bone as they slowly turned around to the steep hill that was leading to the graveyard. It was almost as if time was slowed down to an agonizing degree.

A small group of people appeared running up the hill and towards them. A black haired young woman, followed by a slightly younger woman with light brown hair.

Then a middle aged man with a light beard and black hair came after them and while he displayed an overwhelming presence, it wasn't what froze Setsuzo and Raiba in their place. That person came running up the hill last, in form of a young man in his very late teens, with a tall build, short orange hair and a slightly distressed expression on his face.

ooo

"Yo Ichigo, you want to or should I?", his old man said, devoid of his usual annoying energetic manner.

"It's okay, I got it", Ichigo answered, slightly annoyed. Of course Hollows had to show up to his mothers memorial day, why the hell not. He sighed and focused. With the help of his Substitute Badge, he emerged out of his physical body in his Shinigami form.

A woman was lying on the ground next to the two Hollows, with a leg that looked like it was definitively broken and then some. One of the Hollows must have stepped on her, given the blood on his foot.

He drew Zangetsu from his back and jumped towards the two hollows with minimal motivation. He wanted to take them out in a single hit, since that would be easiest. He couldn't use a Getsuga Tenshou or god forbid a Getsuga Juujishou as the former would wreck the graveyard and the latter would probably blow up the whole area in the process.

So he opted for the sword strike.

ooo

**( Bleach OST 4 Track 18: Mysterious )**

Sestuzo was paralyzed. Completely overwhelmed. He couldn't move.

Not when the two men noticed them.

Not when the orange haired one emerged as a spirit out of his physical body, dressed in dark robes, with a large black sword on his back and a small one on the right side of his waist.

And not even when said individual rushed towards them.

It was Raiba who moved. He quickly conjured a Garganta, but the opponent was too fast. They wouldn't make it in time, not both of them.

_Well, guess that's it then._

Raiba had constructed the Garganta. He would go through first. In the end it came down to that. Every man for himself. Or at least, that's what Setsuzo thought was going to happen.

When the orange haired man emerged as a spirit, he heard Raiba say next to him: "You better get those damn memories back and I hope they're worth it." Setsuzo looked at him in shock, but all he saw was Raiba's face with a somber glance in his eyes on it. Then he was pushed through the pathway to Hueco Mundo.

"Wait!", Setuzo screamed but it was already too late.

"See you later, partner", were the last words that were uttered by his friend before he was cut in half.

ooo

Setsuzo fell into the desolate wasteland that was Hueco Mundos second layer, completely shaken by what had just happened. His friend, who had fought many battles alongside him, was killed.

It was as if someone had snapped his fingers and he was gone, just like that. But it should have ben him.

He didn't react in time.

He was frozen in fear.

He just stood there and didn't even try to do something.

And very slowly agonizing hatred started to grow inside of him. Hatred for Bainne to even making them do something like that. Hatred for the world to allow such beings as that Shinigami to even exist. Hatred for that same man who killed his friend.

But above all else hatred or himself.

For having given up without a second thought.

And for being a coward.

And somehow he hoped. Hoped, that hatred would make him strong. Would bring him revenge. Would bring his friend back. But he knew that none of those things would happen.

So all he could do was scream.

* * *

**Author's notes:**

So, first things first: I'm back (obviously) and I've got good and bad News. The bad news is that I was only able to write two complete chapters in these 4 weeks of vacation. The good news is that those are really long chapters, like the longest I've ever written, so in a sense you're still rewarded.

Now onto this chapter: Yeah, Raiba's dead, no question. I kinda like this inverted or flipped perspective (whatever you wanna call it), but I'm not really gonna touch on it that much, as it's not the focus of the story, at least not yet. When going into this project, I just thought to myself: "One of your main characters is a Hollow, so there's like, no fucking way you can just ignore that." Like I said, I'm not gonna deeply explore this theme, but that doesn't mean I don't find it interesting. I mean think about it: Ichigo is our hero and as a Shinigami it's literally his mission to murder Hollows. So from the perspective of a Hollow this dude is fucking horrifying. Hence the reason why the intro music for him in that moment wasn't his actual theme song (which is awesome by the way), but literally music from hell. I don't know, it just felt like a smart way to put a new spin on the whole Shinigami-Hollow dynamic.

As for Bainne and why he sent them to the human world in the first place: well, I put a little hint in it, but no need to worry about that now. A few more chapters and he will be more focused on and fleshed out. Who knows, maybe I'll reveal some of his motivations, maybe not. You're just gonna have to keep reading and find out ;).

Alright, that's a little clickbaity and not really what I'm about. Don't take that too seriously, you can obviously stop whenever you want to or don't give a fuck anymore. I'm doing this for fun and I'm pretty grateful for you people actually reading it and sticking with me here, so another big thank you to guys and girls who love Bleach as much as I do, where- and whoever you are.

The second chapter I wrote on vacation is coming soon, don't worry.

With that all being said:

If you`ve got your own opinion or ideas, PM me, or, better yet, review the story. I`ll always welcome constructive criticism.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Family

Rukongai was a city divided into 320 different districts. 80 districts in the northern, eastern, southern and western district. The higher the number of the district, the worse the living conditions.

However, that ratio doesn't go down in a linear line like one would think. Instead, it declines steadily downwards until it hits district 50. From there on out, things spiral down way faster. According to reports, district 59 was the last one where people actually wear somewhat proper footwork.

People ran around wearing rags, no shoes and were becoming more like savages than real people. As soon as one hit district 80, one would be forgiven to think to accidentally have stumbled into hell's front yard.

Western district 63 may already have been one of those areas that were pretty rough, but people still mostly behaved like, well, people. That was of course, among people who looked like actual humans. Towards someone from the wolfman-clan for example, they were not so welcoming. Not exactly hostile, but not exactly all warm and cuddly either.

That certain someone lived somewhat apart from the usual living quarters, somewhere in the woods, where he had built his own cave.

ooo

Ousai Souken was just about to prepare dinner. He had caught some fishes, plucked a few different fruits from the trees and if he wasn't mistaken, the dried meat he had prepared days ago was about to be just right.

There were a few reasons as to why he lived out here in the woods instead of together with the other humans.

First there was the fact that he'd clearly never fit in, with his large stature, brown furr and scars that his body was littered with.

Second, he had living standards that were somewhat different from what the people here were used to. Sure, he could have moved up to some of the higher districts, but the spot in which he had built his cave was just too beautiful to let it go to waste. A river was nearby, so his nourishment problem was solved. The trees in the area bore surprisingly tasteful fruit and last but not least; nobody else was here.

That was essentially the third reason why he lived out here, because it was quiet. None of the usual noise of the market, no baffled stares at his outer appearance and no whispering behind his back.

The fire on which he would grill the fish was already set in place, now it just had to get a bit bigger. The table was already prepared with carefully crafted dishes and bowls.

Suddenly, Ousai stopped dead in his tracks to pay close attention. There it was again. A strange noise he had been hearing for an hour about now, like something was shifting on gravel. It was faint, almost silent, but it was there. He slowly started to turn back to the fire, when he heard it again.

_Alright then, let's see who you are._

Ousai was out here for one more reason. Said reason was the fact that he had a special ability, which he had honed in his years as a Shinigami. A skill that allowed him to uphold a special awareness field around him with a constant radius of about 15 meters.

He could alter that whenever he wanted, but if he didn't have any special intentions, 15 meters was the default setting. Right now though, he did and so he widened his field until he found what he had been suspiscious of. Somebody was hiding around his home. But who? He couldn't have possibly pissed soeone off, he never really moved out of his comfort Zone to do that in the first place, so who could possibly-

He stopped his train of thought and burst out in howling laughter once he recognized the Spiritual pressure of the person trying to be stealthy.

It had been years since he had last seen him, but to Ousai, it still felt like it was just yesterday. One of the only persons he knew that treated him with respect rather than with fear and resentment for his looks.

"Ya know, when it didn't work a few years ago, why should sneakin' up on me work now?", he said grinning in his gravely voice out in the open. First there was no reaction, until his adversary acknowledged defeat and walked out so Ousai could see him.

"I could have sworn I had you this time", said a sheepishly smiling Makoto. "What gave me away?"

"Don't drag yer feet on gravel", Ousai responded. "You didn't even enter my field of awareness, I could hear you stomping like a herd, boy. Makes me think ye didn't even try."

"Ah, you mean your omniscience? Ok, come on, we both know that that's cheating and if I would have actually managed to make it in there, I would have won old man", he retorted and started walking towards Ousai.

The latter did the same and slowly raised his arms. "You can call it what you want, you know the rules; I spot you before you tap me, I win. Come here, you", he said and gave his foster-son a heartfelt hug. "I imagine you have much to tell me", Ousai said after releasing Makoto.

"That would be an understatement", the latter responded and grimaced.

"Well, you've come just at the right time, I'm about to prepare dinner."

"Great, I'll grill the fish. Bet you're still taking it off the fire early."

"I like it more raw than baked, you know that", Ousai shot back and both of them had to smile.

The dinner preparation went on without much conversation aside from the usual chatter regarding how certain dishes were to be handled and so on and forth.

The meal was unusually quiet as well. This wasn't like Ousai remembered it. Makoto was more the type that couldn't stop running his mouth, wether it was full or not. Something must have happened, but he knew better than to bluntly ask the question. Instead, he casually started a conversation.

"So tell me kid, what did ya do in these past few years?"

"Well, for starters, I became a Shinigami."

"Yeah, I can see that smartass."

Makoto smiled selfstatisfied and continued. "Not how you'd think though. I actually blew the academy. Both figuratively and literally."

Ousai let out a loud laugh.

"Yeah, the last part was considerably more fun than the first. See, I started to see flaws in the teaching methods they used and kindly corrected them a few times, to which they threatened with expelling me. I didn't think they had the balls to actually go through with that though, so I kinda kept correcting the teachers until they actually threw me out. Then I hit fuck it and showed them that I was right."

"In what regard?", Ousai asked between two bites.

"The academys security", Makoto stated with a smug attitude. "I proved that to them by actually breaking into and setting fire to it."

"And how did the fast-talking know-it-all get from academy arsonist to fully fledged Shinigami?", Ousai asked curiously.

"I was "discovered" as a rare talent that requires specialized tutelage", Makoto declared proudly.

"Surprises me that it took a burnin' school for 'em to pick up on that. Looks like the lot's starting to slack."

"See, that was my argument too, but low and behold, they just refused to belive me."

"Must have been terrible for ye, I can only imagine", Ousai said with cynical bite.

Makoto was a good kid, but the fact that he always knew better was _a little_ taxing sometimes. Ousai actually had some pity for the guy's poor teachers. Makoto appearantly didn't hear Ousais comment as he casually carried on. "So after that, I was taken in by none other than the vice-captain of the 6th division. He brought me in front of the central 46 and vouched for me."

"Oh, that poor bastard."

"I even learned how to use Shikai in record time."

"Really", Ousai said, now a little surprised.

"After some time, he told me that he had nothing left to teach me anymore. So I was omitted as a fully fledged Shinigami ready for deployment."

"So now yer what; still part of the 6th?"

"Nope, I'm actually part of the 11th now."

Ousai let out a laugh once again. "The 11th? Yeah, ya fit right in with those bastards. Battle-crazed, with your own mind and let no one else tell ya what to do. Say, is that savage with the eyepatch still captain?"

"You mean Zaraki Kenpachi?"

"Yeah, that one."

"Actually, yeah. And since the Quincy war from a good four and a half years ago, he's actually gotten much stronger."

"Like the bastard wasn't already strong enough. How many power limiters does he wear by now, ten?"

"Actually, still just the one. He had it reconfigurated to be more efficient."

"What about captain Komamura? Does he still write the "A puppy's feeling" in that monthly magazine?", Ousai asked with amusement.

"Ah, no. The official reports say he lost his ability to fight after the Quincy war and when it was over, he disappeared without a trace. Whether he's dead or alive, nobody knows. His lieutenant took over and is now captain."

That came as somewhat of a shock. During his time in the Gotei 13, Ousai has always had some admiration for his fellow clan member, even if he never really knew him personally.

"And what do ya do now? Some boring paperwork?", he quickly changed the subject.

"11th division, remember? My current captain isn't so big on paperwork, cleaning work, or any kind of work to be honest."

"Ah yes, I forgot."

Makoto hesitated before he continued. "But todays visit actually has something to do with what I do currently and I kinda, sorta, really need your advice, because as it turns out, I'm not that suited for the role."

Ousai didn't say anything, he simply donned a more serious expression and raised an eyebrow.

"See I- I fucked up. In a really bad way."

"Go on", Ousai said slowly.

"I had a mission in the human world about six months ago. The Shinigami Substitute was appearantly on vacation, so there had to be someone else taking over his job. Having never been in the human world, I of course volunteered. My orders were simple. Send every soul I could find to Soul Society and kill every Hollow I encounter." He took a quick break to take a deep, somewhat shaking breath. "Only that I of course got cocky and wanted to let loose a little, because a few months prior to that, I actually managed to achieve Bankai."

Ousai let out an acknowledging whistle. Bankai wasn't easy to achieve. It required an extensive amount of focus and commitment, traits he had rarely seen displayed by his foster-son. So hearing that he actually did it was… kind of unbelievable and amazing. Ousai couldn't help but be filled with a bit of pride, even if he noticed that Makoto's voice had been devoid of any pride or joy about the fact.

"So when the opportunity presented itself, I just had to use it, try it out, see what it was like in the field. I'd never get a shot at it like this again. Suddenly a few dozen Hollows, which noticed that the Shinigami Substitute was gone, got overconfident and entered the human world together. It was kind of like a dream come true, since now I had more than enough targets to practize. I obliterated all but one. One I had overlooked, rather weak and insignificant, who slipped away unnoticed while I slaughtered the rest. By the time I realized that I had missed one, it was already too late. A boy and a girl were killed that day."

"And ya obviously feel guilty and responsible for that."

"Because I am", Makoto responded, now far more serious. "But that's not even the worst part. The worst part was, that, even after basically having killed them, I still failed to send both of them to Soul Society. Both of their soul chains dissolved incredibly fast. I managed to send the girl here, to this district, but I couldn't get to the boy in time. I was literally one second too late. All I was able to see was his terrified face when the hole in his chest was formed."

"And then?", the wolfman persisted.

"And then I got to the girl, took her in, vouched for her in front of the central 46 like Abarai-Sensei did for for me and started to train her. Simultaneously, I broke into the research lab and stole equipement to open a Garganta to search for the boy in Hueco Mundo."

"Hold on a bloody second. Ya broke into that psychos lab, which in and on itself is nuts by the way, to _steal_ some shit? How did ya even get past the front door?"

"My Bankai is pretty useful." Makoto didn't elaborate much further on that and judging by his voice, digging into it wouldn't really help the situation.

"I'd keep me eye on that investigation if I were you. Sooner or later, there are gonna be some very unpleasant consequences, especially if they find out i's you. If there's one thing that crazed maniac of a scientist hates, it's violaters of his holy garden."

"I kind of didn't really have a choice, I had to do something. So now I'm swinging back and forth at educating her and trying to find the boy in friggin' Hueco Mundo. Not that I'm particularly great at either."

"I can understand the boy, but ya couldn't have done that much wrong with training the girl. I mean she's only been in your care for what, 'bout four months?"

"Four and a half actually, if you're going by the time from when I picked her up to now. Also, contrary to your assumption, there's a lot you can do wrong."

"How so?"

"Because I trained her like you trained me."

"Oh, okay, I take it all back. There's an whole bloody shitload that can and probably did go wrong there."

"Something I noticed once she blew up in my face with it. I ended up making some excuse for my actual horrible skill in tutoring. She luckily believed me and I moved on to more… tame methods."

Ousai took a few moments to take that all in. Training anybody else like he trained the boy was not only a bad idea in theory, but also completely nonsensical, especially in an environment like Soul Society. Ousai had been hard on Makoto, but because he layed more emphasis on teaching the boy how to stay alive instead of teaching him how to fight.

"So let me guess, ya want my advice on how ya should carry on?"

"Yeah", Makoto admitted, almost a little defeated and exhausted.

"Tell ya what; bring her here", Ousai told him after giving it some thought. "I'll judge the situation meself and then I'll give you my advice."

"Sounds like a deal", Makoto said with a faint smile on his lips. Through the whole exchange, his mood had kind of dropped from almost annoyingly cheery to flat out depressed. Ousai didn't like that. He had rarely seen his foster-son like that. Makoto without a smile on his face was kind of unnerving for the old wolfman to see. From that alone he could tell that this was really weighing on him.

"Alright then. Bring her as soon as possible. I'll be ready."

ooo

After they had finished eating, Makoto left the place he had once called home and still kinda did, to get on route to return to Soul Society.

During the last few weeks he had come into situations where he was forced to perpetually use shunpo, so he had gotten pretty good at it. From district 80 to Seireitei was now only a matter of a single day. The hours passed by and his new home slowly came into sight.

Nothing had really changed, it looked just like before. He suspected some kind of ruckus on the inside though. Kiara had been unsupervised for a good three weeks now, who knew what kind of havoc she had wrecked in that time. Maybe leaving her alone that long after having taught her the basic principals of Reiatsu usage was not such a good idea after all.

He genuinely did not know if she'd actually been able to restrain herself for that long. He could only hope.

He also had to prepare some kind of excuse, in case questions would come up regarding his prolonged leave. His captain wouldn't mind that much, but the central 46 would if the word would get around.

That was something he had to avoid at all costs. First, that would drastically decrease his freedom and thus automatically erase his options to go looking for the boy. Second, if they'd actually go and check his "work" in district 80, he'd be fucked.

And third, he'd be around for investigations, since his break-in was still an open case. What Ousai had said was not something he had forgotten, but more like pushed to the edge of his mind. He was well aware that, should he be found out, the consequences would be pretty ugly and he didn't think for even the fraction of a second that that day wouldn't come.

The only goal he had in mind right now though was to get back and check on how things were as fast as possible. It didn't really take him that much longer anymore and the higher distrcits went almost by in a blur. It was late evening when he finally passed district 1. Once he had gotten to the outer entrance gates of Seireitei though, he was greeted by someone unexpected.

"Good evening Makoto", said a familiar voice waiting behind the doors.

"Abarai-sensei", he nervously responded. The fact that Renji Abarai had taken the time to wait for his arrival this late into the evening didn't really deliver a positive vibe.

"What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you obviously."

"And why would you do such a thing? I know I'm your former student and hold the fourth seat in a division, but I'm surely not important enough that a vice-captain would have to sacrifice his free time just to wait for me."

"Alright, let's drop the pretences. I just have a few questions that I'd like you to answer, that's all. I just so happened to overhear that you've developed a habbit of coming back in the night after your missions in the outer district. How's rebuilding going by the way?"

"Slow", Makoto answered tightly.

_Relax. He doesn't know anything. Just be casual._

He exhaled a bit and tried to get his body to ease up a little.

"Slower than I like to admit", he added.

"Well that's sad. Then again, you're only one man, so you couldn't possibly do much. Come on, I'll walk you to the 11th", his teacher said with a welcoming wave of his hand.

"It was a voluntary mission if I remember correctly, wasn't it?", he continued while Walking.

"Yeah, exactly."¨

"So why did you take it on then? Up until not too long ago you had your own mind and certainly didn't do work like that out of your own free will."

"Well, after everything that's happened, I thought maybe I could put my skills to good use for a change."

Abarai-sensei nodded a few times. "I understand. Gotta say, a noble cause. That begs the question though, why now?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean now that you've picked a protège yourself, which gives you an aweful lot to do by the way, you must be pretty overloaded with responsibility, right?"

_Fuck, he suspects something. He knows something is fishy_.

His mentor wasn't dumb. Makoto knew that he'd eventually figure out what was going on, but he didn't think that he'd have a hunch so soon. But his sensei wasn't done.

"Why did you even take her in in the first place?"

Shit. Of all the questions that he had to ask, it just had to be that one.

Makoto didn't answer for a bit to buy himself some time. Damn it. What now? He couldn't tell him that he was responsible for his student's death in the Human world, at least not yet. That conversation would go and end very poorly. He thought hard and almost too long but managed an answer that would hopefully statisfy his teachers curiousity for a bit.

"When I found her I… I guess I saw myself. I kind of didn't want someone like that to end up in district 63, so I made a decision. The fact that it was my home district certainly contributed if that is your next question."

Abarai-sensei layed his head back and gazed into the stars a little. "Look Makoto, you're a good guy, but you gotta set prioritys here. When you vouched for her in front of the central 46, you basically declared that she is now your responsibility. However, you gotta lay down facts to prove that your methods are working and I can tell you right now; they don't. You sent the girl to me and not only is her "education" all over the place, it's incredibly poor. You also constantly disappear to save lower districts, which is again, noble and all, but you are in no position to do that. And if you don't spend the necessary time training her, she will get taken away from you, I hope you know that."

Oh Makoto knew. But he once again hadn't accounted for something like that to be complained about or noticed this early. Shit. Would he have to go before the central 46 now? Would he need to defend his "custody" over Kiara? Because if so, his chances looked pretty grim.

"I do. Vividly."

"Good. Normally, I'd have to report something like that, but since it's you, I'll pretend like I never saw that."

Makoto turned around to his mentor and his face lit up. "Really?"

The lieutenant sighed and turned to the former student. "Just do your best, that's all I'm asking. Find a compromise between your mission and your duties. And just shoving her off to other highranking members of the Gotei 13 is not the goal here, she is _your_ responsibility not theirs, make sure to get that into that thick skull of yours."

Makoto looked at him a bit before expressing his sincere gratitude with the weight he put into his next two words. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Oh would you look at that, the entrance doors to squad 11. Still unguarded, as per freaking usual." That last sentence was a little too saturated in disappointment to the point where Makoto got the feeling that his former teacher didn't even try to be decent. Abarai-sensei turned around and started walking the other way.

"Good night, Makoto. Make sure not to blow that second chance you technically never got."

"Good night Sensei. Again, thank you."

"I have no idea what you're talking about", was the last answer he got from Renji Abarai before the latter disappeared from his vision.

_Well, better get some sleep before dealing with the little warmachine tomorrow._

He casually walked onto the 11th division grounds, only to hear a light rambling from somewhere to his left where he noticed on further inspection that vice-captain Madarame was in fact talking to a tree. It sounded like the rambling of a tired and very clearly drunk man. Of course. He must have gone over to squad 7 again to drink with captain Tetsuzaemon.

"Vice-captain Madarame, fancy meeting you here", he approached him. The lieutenant suddenly jolted up and turned his head into Makotos general direction.

"Who you be you who, be you who?", where the first words tumbling out of his mouth.

"It's Makoto Souken, actually. 4th seat of this division, remember?"

The vice-captain squinted his eyes before dawning a whide smile. "Ah of course is you. Come-Come-come on and uhm… nap? Nip? No somein' witha D. Drool? Drown? Dr- Drink! Yeah, thas the one", he concluded in his drunk ramblings. "Come and dr- drink withus ma f-friend."

"I don't think that's a good idea lieutenant. I have a better one. How about we both go to bed and call it a night? Come on, I'll get you to your quarters."

"Aaaaaaaawe, but, but I was ju-just, just havin' such a- a nice convesra- conserva- coneverasat- such a nice *_hick_* talk with the, the three uhm, tree."

"I bet you were", Makoto said absently while taking one of the vice-captains armes over his shoulder.

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah I *_hick_*, I was. We were- we were talking about uhm, the, the floor."

"Really?", Makoto retorted with played interest.

"Ye- *_hick*_, yeah. About how the fl- how the floor was, was made out of uhm, about how the floor was made out of-"

"Floor?"

"Yes", he gurgled joyfully. "How the floor was- was made out of *_hick_*, floor. 'Twas a, a good talk. He's a good listener, that tree, I *_hick_* mean three."

This went on for a bit until Makoto finally got to the vice-captains quarters. It took him a good half an hour until he had put his superior safely to bed, after which the latter insantly fell asleep and started snoring.

Makoto got outside the building and made his way to his own quarters. He didn't rush himself, as he was fairly tired.

He opened the sliding door to his rooms, undressed and fell on top of his futon.

"What a day."

ooo

11th division grounds, in one of the hideouts of the (in)famous apprentice of the 4th seat, a girl was sleeping. But something was different, completely unlike it was before. Kiara had dreamt about things before, but never had a dream been so strange and yet… familiar.

She was in a world, different to anything she had ever seen. It was filled with a green, rich grassland, however, it didn't bear any flowers. The field she was standing in was llike a great circle that at some point shifted over into a vast forest. Objects were floating above that forest, but they were blurred and she couldn't make them out.

It was night and the sky was light by dancing, warm lights while the sky above those lights was sprinkled with stars but no moon. Instead, a giant blue comet was almost hovering were the moon was supposed to be, but while it seemed to stand still, the flames that were peeling off from it were speaking a different language, trailing behind it. The comet was moving and yet, it stood still.

"Turn…..", a voice said from behind her. It was faint and she almost missed it, but it resounded again. "Turn ar….."

It was just as faint as before, but somehow, Kiara perceived it more distinctly this time. She turned around in order to seek the owner of the voice and eventually saw a shape. A blurred shape that was standing in front of her, next to something less blurred that kind of looked like an oven. It clearly had a fire burning inside it.

The shape began to speak again, but it was hard for Kiara to understand it all.

"I…your…..d..Speak my n….so…..may rec…e my….er. My….. is...'…"

"What? I can't hear you. What's your name?"

"My name is…"

ooo

Kiara opened her eyes and jumped up wide awake. Her heart was pounding and she was sweating heavily. It was this dream again. A world she had never seen before but still felt kind of familiar. A shape she couldn't make out but still kind of remembered what it looked like. Why did she keep having that dream?

* * *

**Author's notes:**

So yeah, another chapter done. Ousai was actually a later addition to the party and writing him is pretty fun. As some of you may have noticed, the wording I chose for him make it seem like he's irish, but that's intentional. Just picture him with that thick irish accent and he becomes like, a million times more fun. As for Makoto; I think I gave him some much needed character work here. At the beginning, it seemed like the whole mentor student thing between him and Kiara was the standard type of training where the main character just has to be smart and adapt and find out everything themselves and so on and forth. This isn't really the case here and I did that because I actually have some experience when it comes to educating people. That standard anime trope? It don't work real well.

I kind of wanted to do something different here and subvert a few expectations. It might not quite seem like that now, but all the characters I'm working with are actual flawed people. Makoto is the cool old brother/mentor figure of one of our main characters, but he's not perfect. He makes mistakes and tries his best to fix them, but doesn't really succeed sometimes. I don't know about you guys, but I think that's pretty compelling and I actually like how it humanizes him, hence why I did it.

Now there might be some of you who are kinda upset that I keep talking about Makoto's Bankai, but not actually show it. I understand why you'd get pissed about that and that it kinda feels like I'm using it as the easy way out to justify certain scenarios. Then again, "Makoto's Bankai" has been the answer to two scenarios up until now, maybe three and trust me, there won't be that many additions to that number until we actually get to see him in action for the first time.

And then we have Renji. He get's shafted in the anime and in parodies a lot of the time and is presented as a half-pointless side character who instantly goes Bankai in every fight he's in, but accomplishes not a whole lot in the greater scheme of things and after thinking about it, that's a pretty sad common misconception. Obviously, I don't need to tell that to you people, since I'm assuming that ya'll actually finished the manga before starting to read this story (if you didn't, I'm really sorry about spoiling you. When I wrote this story I wanted it to stick as close to the canon as possible so that people can just start reading this without having to accept any major changes to the canon).

Anyway, what I want to say is that renji is actually pretty badass. He gets some really cool moments in the last arc **THAT STUDIO PIERRROT STILL FUCKING REFUSES TO ANIMATE**. Oh sorry, I got a little bitter there. Anyway, he get's cool moments to shine, has a sick character design and to present him as dumb and useless as some people think he is really feels like a disservice to the character. The dude is freaking vice-captain and not without reason. So, I'm trying to let him be as awesome and smart as he actually is. Just in case ya'll are wondering why it feels like he's a detective of some sort now.

Oh and one last thing, then I'm done. The "A puppy's Feeling" joke? That is actual fucking canon, go check it on the official Bleach wiki site, I'm not making this shit up. I legit couldn't hold it in me when I read it and just had to include it as a gag of some sort.

Now that all of that is out of the way, there's really just one more thing to say:

If you`ve got your own opinion or ideas, PM me, or, better yet, review the story. I`ll always welcome constructive criticism.


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Aoi Shichika

_5 months since Setsuzo first woke up in Hueco Mundo_

Karakura town was the home to many individuals. Most famously, Ichigo Kurosaki, Sado Yasutora, Inoue Orihime and Ishida Uryu, but only to the Shinigami living in Soul Society and a few select people in Karakura town. Otherwise, those four were not at all famous, except Sado Yasutora, as he made a career in pro-wrestling. Ichigo Kurosaki and Ishida Uryu had decided to follow the path of medicine, as both went to a university to study the subject. Inoue Orihime stayed in the bakery and learned the profession.

To the outside, they appeared as normal commoners with no special property to them. Just like another girl living in Karakura town, who was even more inconspicuous.

Living in an apartment building near the Karakura high school, on the second floor and being in a hurry to get ready, was Aoi Shichika. She had overslept, and was just now shocked into a state of hyper-awareness, as a glance on the clock told her she was running late. Again.

"Oh shit, not again. Mom!", she yelled through the apartement. Her mother was just as messy as her (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree), and had of course overslept as well. At least they were in harmony when it came to that.

"We overslept, get up."

The door to her mother's bedroom was ajar, as always when her mother stumbled into the bed in the evening and just couldn't care enough to close it. Disgruntled noises resounded from what Aoi liked to call the lion's den, until the point where her mother must have taken a look on the watch.

"Oh shit, not again."

She came running out of her bedroom and almost crashed into the wal opposite of the bedroom doorl.

"Breakfast?"

"On it, get to the showering."

Her mother gave her a quick glance and ran back into her room, just to storm out again with her working clothes and some fresh underwear and steered towards the bathroom.

Occurences like this had happened many times before, which is why Aoi and her mother came up with a very elaborate plan in case they should both oversleep (which happened a lot).

Whoever was up first woke up the latter and started to prepare a breakfast to go, whilst the other went under the shower and got presentable. Her mother was mostly the one who woke up first, but in rare cases like this day, the whole scheme was switched. Her mother and herself weren't really on a very intimate level when it came to their parent-child relationship, but they could work very well together if required.

She was into making breakfast for about ten minutes when her mother got out of the bathroom with her clothes on and some necessary make-up applied, hair not yet done.

"Switch", she said after almost having kicked open the door.

"Toasts are in the toaster, eggs are in the pan, butters already out to heat up."

"Bacon?"

"Ran out yesterday", Aoi said while in her room to get her clothes and underwear.

"Shit", resounded the answer from the kitchen.

Aoi ran to the bathroom and started undressing. "Improvise for youself, I don't need anything else."

She bound her hair together, got under the shower, turned on the hose and received another shock as she remembered that they used hot water as rarely as possible.

"Uhhhh, that's cold", she let out while doing the necessary cleaning. She never washed her hair in mornings like these, that would take way too long. After a good five minutes she got out of the shower again, freezing but refreshed and fully awake now. She dryed off her body, pput on some underwear and then her working clothes, which consisted of a waitress' garments.

She opened the bathroom mirror to be greeted by the short supply of make-up and medication they possessed, as everything else wasted space. She did have one or two eyeshadows and or lipsticks for special occasions, but those rarely happened, if at all. She didn't really have that many friends and even the ones she did have weren't really the type to get invited to some big part or something.

She got out into the living room that connected the kitchen with the rest of the apartement. A corridor led away from the living room, where a door was on each side, leading to a bedroom. Her parents on the right side and hers on the left. Her father was out of the house, he was on a business trip as atraveling agent and her mother and herself were working jobs as a cook and a waitress in different engagements.

She steered towards the kitchen to get her egg sandwich and once again had to think that she was pretty much her mother's spitting image. Medium long brown hair, normal build in height (for a woman), even the face was more or less the same. The only things that were different were that she was missing her mother's beauty spot on the left side of her cheek and the fact that she didn't have her mother's striking green eyes.

No, she had been born with her father steely blue ones. She didn't mind the missing beauty spot, but she would have loved it if she had gotten her mothers vibrant striking green eyes, seeing as green was the rarest eye color on the planet. She walked into the kitchen, only so that her mother could put an already finished sandwich into her hands while running past her.

"Remember to wear a jacket, it's getting colder outside. And don't forget to go to the store in the evening, you know what to buy."

"Got it."

Her mother stopped for a moment, looking like she wanted to say something else, but then shook her head and stormed out the door.

"Love you", Aoi managed to respond before the door was shut. She got back to her room, where she had accidentally forgotten her apartement keys and picked them up while looking for her purse. She found it after looking under her bed (what was it doing down there) and got on her way.

She closed the doors and took the stairs down to the garage to get her bike. She hopped on and started to drive as fast as she could. Her working place was about a ten minute drive away, but she was willing to let her outer appearance get a little bit out of order to make that eight minutes.

She passed a few fellow bikers on her way to work and greeted the occasional passenger.

And then there was the new anomaly that had appeared in her life randomly about a month ago. The ghost of her old neighbor who had recently deceased with a chain growing out of his chest.

Well, it wasn't really the ghost, but more like her ability to _see_ ghosts that had appeared a month ago. Since then, they had popped up randomly in all the places, (never in the ladies room before, but Aoi was sure that was bound to happen at some point) and they simply wouldn't leave her be by asking her questions that ranged from "where's my sock" to "why am I dead" and her usual response was "how am I supposed to friggin' know?"

Luckily, she had been able to ignore the rare ones that showed up during work and was thus able to avoid being labeled crazy. For the moment at least. It wasn't like she was famous for being a weirdo or anything, but it also wasn't really like she was popular by any means. She got to work and used the back door entrance where she encountered the usual dead lady standing in the alley.

"Excuse me miss, could you tell me how I get to the afterlife?"

Aoi took a quick look around to make sure she was alone, before turning to the lady and saying: "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but for the third time this month, I have no idea. Do I look to you like I've done it before?"

"You certainly have the aura of someone who has done it before, although I'm not sure if that was a success."

"And again, for the third time this month, what is that supposed to mean? You keep saying that but I have no idea what-"

Suddenly, the door opened and her boss' face was coming out of it, which made her instantly stiffen up.

"Shichika, what are you doing out here, who are you talking to?", he asked.

"Nobody, just the usual motivation chants before starting another great day of work."

"Don't try to fool yourself girl, this ain't a great day of work, 's just work", he said tired. "Get in already, we need you, you're almost late again."

"But only almost, as always. That means I'm technically still in ti-"

"Don't push it girl, now come in and get to working", he said in a brisk manner.

She stiffened up again and said: "Sir, yes sir, on it sir", she said, ignored the dead lady and got inside.

_I'm barely up and crazy stuff is all over the place already._

She went into the privat section for workers to deposit her mantle and purse, went to the kitchen and helped to prepare the machines and counters on the inside the café, when she noticed a little boy eyeing one of the deserts she had just put into the cooled showcase next to the counter.

It was just when she was about to talk to him that she noticed her new favorite thing since last month: a freaking chain growing out of people's chests.

_Oh, for crying out loud._

She just turned around and ignored the boy, until she heard him ask: "Do you know where my mommy and daddy are?"

_Ah come on, that's just not fair._

When it came to talking to ghosts, she was always torn between two sides.

One side was telling her to help them, talk to them and comfort them. That might have seemed weird, it certainly did to her in the first week, but she had acclimated fast to her strange new life as a secret medium.

The other side was telling her to uphold her image which wasn't really that great in the first place, not talk to them at all and avoid being elevated from a nobody who didn't apply for college to a complete nutjob and possibly losing her employment. It was that cold, calculating side of her, always lingering beneath the surface. She didn't like that part of her at all. What frustrated her most was that she didn't know from whom she had inheritated that part of herself. Or, and that straight up frightened her, it was just something she had developed herself over time and just didn't realize it.

She wanted to ignore that ghost. She really did, but she couldn't, not when confronted with that question. She went around the counter, grabbed a towel and started cleaning the tables in order to put the decour on it.

"Psst, little guy, get over here", she hissed. He turned around and slowly hovered towards her. She carefully avoided any eyecontact and talked only in a muffled voice.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know where your parents are. Go ask somebody else, I'm sure there's someone in this city who can help you."

"Do you know who I need to ask to find them?", he asked hopefully.

She couldn't bear it anymore, checked if there was anyone coming out of the kitchen and looked the kid in the eyes and said with all the compassion she could bring up: "I'm sorry kiddo, I don't. Where ever that person is, I just know you won't find him or her here."

She went back to cleaning the table again and noticed from the edge of her vision how the boy slowly faded away with a sad expression on his face.

She decorated the table and went on to the next one. And so, the day went by, one or two ghosts showed up which Aoi successfully ignored, she met the dead lady in the alley _again_ during one of her breaks, she went back in, had the occasional rude customer and the lovely old lady from across the street who was managing a jewelry store, she was always a generous tipper.

The afternoon was pretty alright, even if that lady in the alley proved to be increasingly persistent. Around seven o'clock she was able to get off work. It had been a normal day so far, or at least what categorized as her new kind of normal.

She wished her fellow co-workers a good night, picked up her things and got ready for an uninterrupted, cozy walk home. And then that boy just had to stand around in the alley at the back of the café where she got out. She got her bike, walked passed him and didn't hear anything what so ever until she was almost out of the street. The sobbing of a lonely little boy who had lost his parents.

She turned around, laughed cynically and said: "Oh no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, not like that."

She turned around again and faced the street.

"I don't feel guilty. Not at all. No. I'm just gonna go along with my business, go to the store, get some Bacon and other things, go home and be done with this whole day, which is already ten times crazier than it used to be _without_ me talking to myself and me _possibly_ helping a friggin' dead kid find his possibly also dead parents in a completely normal monday to friday town."

She turned around to the kid again.

"Nope, this girl is fresh out of pity. Or shits to give. I don't feel guilty, not at all. I don't feel-"

Disgruntled noises exited her mouth as she tried to wrestle with herself and settle on "I don't feel guilty".

"Fuuuuuuuck me", she said, instantly regretted it and checked the area to see if anybody heard that, which she would have been extremely embarrassed about.

_The universe just loves to hate me, doesn't it?_

She turned back to the kid and whistled. The kid looked up and after she gave him a meaningful nod he dawned a smile so bright, one might mean the sun had gone up.

While waiting for him, she pulled out her headphones and put the one with speaker function in.

"Alright, this is how it's gonna go. I'm gonna act like I'm talking on the phone the whole time while your with me. When around other people, I will act as if I'm ending the phonecall and from that point on out, you're quiet until we're alone again, understand? I am helping you, as good as I can anyway, but I'd like to still appear as a normal person to the outside world that doesn't talk to ghosts other people can't see, got it?"

"Yup", the kid nodded happily.

She took a deep breath to prepare herself for what she was about to do. It was essentially not _that_ crazy, she was just helping a kid find his parents. It was bat-shit insane though, since that kid was a _dead ghost._

When the whole thing had started a month ago, she had been pretty feaked out. She had shut herself in her room all weekend long, since there were ghosts all over the place. Eventually though, she had needed to go outside again to work. The ghosts didn't seem hostile, all they had been doing was talking to her and asking questions about how to pass on and where their relatives were. Some were pretty chill, while others were freaking her out a little.

"Do you know where we could look first?", the kid asked hopefully.

"Yeah, kind of. I… I know a guy. He's been here for some time and he might know something, but it's not a guarantee, so don't get your hopes up."

Aoi started walking in the direction of the more abandoned parts of the city. The kid followed, still with a shining smile.

"Hey, what's your name?", she asked after some time.

"Toko Otoribashi", he answered.

"Alright Toko, I'm Aoi." She thought about how to ask the next question in a sensitive manner, but decided to just go for it, since there was no real talking around it.

"Toko, how did you die?"

He shivered a little and looked like he had touble giving an answer, but eventually said: "I don't… really know. All I remember was that I was walking home with my mommy and daddy and all of a sudden everything went black. The next time I opened my eyes I had this chain coming out of my chest and I saw this weird… monster. It looked horrible, like a giant bat with a skull like mask on its head."

That sounded positively terrifying, but way too strange to be true. Careful not to sound scared, she asked: "How… giant are we talking?"

"Like an elepant?", he answered, not sure if the comparision was accurate.

_First dead people and now a giant bat the size of an elephant. That's just great._

She would have loved to just debunk the kid's statement on the spot, but couldn't help that after having gotten the ability to see ghosts, ridiculing one of those ghosts for having seen something like that kinda felt… hypocritical. She had just been introduced to this whole new world and couldn't really act like she understood anything about it, because she really didn't. She was at a complete loss, so assuming the worst was probably the better call here.

"And your parents, do you know if they, uhm, survived?"

"I… I'm not sure. When I woke up, everyone was gone and I had this chain coming out of my chest."

Ok, so no clear status on the parents. But maybe she could get him to tell her a location?

"Do you know where exactly you died? You know somewhere near one of the more recognizable places in the town?"

"I remember walking under a bridge near the river…"

"Ok, that's something. Let's see where it'll get us."

"What do you mean?", he asked a little confused.

"The guy were visiting is, well, like you, but different. See his chain is locked to the building he stays in. He can't really move around that much, but he's been here ever since I was able to see ghosts. Judging by your chain, you didn't die that long ago, so chances are that he may have caught something about it."

Her goal was an empty arcade, inhabited by the lovely but a little cynical old owner that sadly passed away by courtesy of a heart attack. It was somewhere in the northern part of the city, past the Yumisawa park. They arrived at their destination and there was an unsurprising lack of people around. Some time ago, this place would have been practically exploding with humans, but then the arcade was shut down after the owner had died and none of his relatives had wanted to take over the business, so they opted for the easy solution and just got rid of it.

The owner had not been fond of that at all, which is why he somehow bound himself to that place. She had honestly no idea how something like that was possible, but she didn't really wanna know either. They reached the store and it was still just like she remembered. Shut down, old and looking like it had not been taken care of for a while.

The only new addition were the chaines wrapped around the building that came from the most impossible places. She used to come here a lot as a kid and always loved the place. Which was also why it was one of the first spots she chose to hide from the ghosts a month ago and almost got a heart attack when the dead owner had been standing in front of her all of a sudden with a chain coming out of his chest that enwrapped the whole edifice.

"Kanda-san, you home?", she yelled around after casually climbing inside through a broken window.

"Of course I am, where else would I be but here?", a gentle voice answered from the dark. A shape started to form and soon the body of Shiro Kanda completely appeared out of thin air.

"I thought you wanted to try to stay away from spirits and live your life the same as it was before?"

"Still am", she quipped back.

"Ah yes?", he asked and glanced past her towards the boy. "How has that been working out?"

"Pretty mediocre until I realized my heart wasn't made out of stone when I heard him over there cry for his parents", she answered and pointed to Toko over her shoulder.

Kanda's expression became a little more heartfelt and he said: "You always were kind-hearted, no matter how hard you tried not to be."

"I wouldn't go that far, but let's say my stubbornness has its limits." She intended to say that with conviction, but Kanda-san just smiled at her gently. He floated past her and kneeled down in front of the Toko to look him in the eyes. "And how might we help you?", he asked with a comforting voice.

"Like I said he's looking for his parents. I brought him here because I thought you might have a clue or two. Appearantly they died near a river. Do you know something about that?"

Kanda-san was still looking at Toko before he answered with: "Yes, I picked up a Thing or two. Last I heard, two spirits who have recently deceased were seen around an abandoned compound in the western part of Karakura town."

_Abandoned. Like ghost houses. Great._

"Do you know anything else?", she asked.

"No, I'm afraid that's all I can give you."

"Alright, thank you, Kanda-san." She walked past him towards the broken window and gave Toko a nod to follow her. "I'll bring some flowers the next time I come by here."

"Aoi", the owner said and suddenly stared at her with an intensity she had rarely seen him display, alive or dead. "Be careful. I have no idea what is going to await you there."

"Yeah sure", she replied a little unsettled. "I'll keep that in mind."

ooo

Aoi had to think about Kanda-san's warning the entire walk to the western part of the town. There had been something in his eyes, as if he had a vague idea what to expect, but wasn't sure if he was right, or maybe worse; he was hoping that he was wrong. It worried her. A lot. There were tons of things she didn't know about this whole new world (that she was still planning on ignoring as much as possible).

For example: the chains she had seen coming out of every ghosts chest had all heavily varried in length. Where they some kind of a time limit for them to stay in the mortal world and when they were gone, would the ghosts just pass on automatically?

Or were they an actual time limit for ghosts to move on and when time was up, they would forever be trapped with the living without ever finding peace? Or would something even worse happen, when the chain was gone, they'd die again (just phrasing it that way was already weird) and would just be gone this time?

And what was that thing that happened with the chain of the old arcade store owner? Questions over questions she had tried to suppress in the past month in order to distance herself as much as possible from everything spirit-related started to surface again and got her gears grinding.

They were walking for a good 15 minutes, when a young man in white garments with shoulder long hair and a pair of glasses crossed the streets behind her. Nothing suspicious, he kept his distance and just walked behind them. They took a few turns and Aoi glanced over her shoulder to check if he was still behind them.

He was. It wasn't all that late, around half past seven, and it was possible he was heading towards the same area Aoi was. But something was fishy, something felt just not… right. She couldn't help but get the suspicion that he was following them.

She took a few unnecessary turns to confirm her theory and low and behold, he was still following them. After the next turn to the right she walked a good distance before turning around on the spot and waiting for him. He came around the corner and was only mildly surprised to see her standing there.

She had been visiting the local self-defense club for a few years and knew how to take care of herself to a certain extent, but assuming that that person was trying to attempt what she thought he was trying to attempt, still unsettled her a bit. She crossed her arms to boost her confidence a bit and let out: "Can I help you mister? Are you lost and maybe need directions and are too shy to ask?"

Suddenly, he did something. It was very subtle and easy to miss, but for a moment, she could have sworn he glanced at her right side where the boy was standing. Then he fixed his glasses so that they in some strange way reflected the light from the setting sun (how the hell did people with glasses do that?).

Then he calmly answered: "Aren't you the neighbor of the retired doctor Shizuma?"

"I might", she answered suspiciously.

"I'm a medicine student and she recently helped me with an essay. I just wanted to bring her a little something as a token of my gratitude. She always wanted to meet somewhere to talk about and give me advice on my paper, so I don't know where she lives. She's mentioned you during a few of our tea breaks and when I saw you I thought you may be on your way home. So I followed you in order to surprise her, otherwise I would have had to call her and thereby announcing my arrival."

His eyes became visible again behind the reflecting glasses and she noticed again how he was looking directly at the boy at her side.

His story seemed alright; Shizuma-baba was pretty talkative once tea was involved.

"Ok, I believe you. I'm not on my way home though. If you wanna get there you gotta…" She explained the way to her apartement building and he calmly listened. During the whole conversation, his focus had been on her, but when she finished, his eyes moved to her right again, not for long, only the blink of an eye, but enough.

"I'm sorry, why do you keep glancing past me? Do you see something there?"

He looked her in the eyes for a few moments and then said: "I have no idea what you might be talking about. Thank you for the directions though. Have a good night."

"Yeah, you too", she responded a little puzzled.

_Weird guy_.

They went down the streets and after some time arrived at the sections with empty houses in the city. She searched a few of the houses by going around them and looking through the windows, while Toko got inside them to take a closer look (Ghosts were able to go through walls appearantly. Didn't seem that far-fetched in retrospect, but still).

It was around the time when they got to search a warehouse that Aoi got a really uncomfortable feeling.

"Do you hear that?", Toko asked and walked towards the warehouse, probably numb to the sickening feeling that Aoi was experiencing at the moment.

"Toko don't get too close to that, we have no idea what's in there."

"But I hear them calling", he said in a strange kind of trance. "They're calling out for me… I have to go to them."

"What are you talking about, there is nothing-"

She shut herself up and closed her eyes. Maybe there was something maybe she just didn't listen enough. She listened closely, focused aaaaand…

And against all odds heard something. It was faint. Quiet. Almost akin to a whisper, but it was there. It sounded… comforting. Soothing. As if a mother told her child that everything was alright. But there was something more to it than that, something

lingering under the surface.

It felt… incredibly rotten and wrong. Like a predator, something that was just waiting patiently until it could finally… feast.

The boy was now almost at the entrance of the warehouse, taking slow steps towards it.

"Toko get back here, it's a trap", she called out. He slowly turned around to her, but something was severly off. His eyes were mat, lacking any kind of life they previously had captivated and with an emotionless voice he said: "But they are calling…"

The boy didn't listen and slowly turned back to the warehouse. One more step and he'd be inside it. One more step and something terrible would happen. Just one more step…

She had to do something. Something, anything, as long as it would prevent him from stepping into that building. She wanted to run towards the entrance, grab the boy, turn around and run. Before she could even move a muscle, something flashed up from the inside that instantly froze her to the bone. It looked like a giant set of eyes, hovering in the air.

The boy took another step and was now almost past the entrance. And then she knew. She knew that, whatever she would do now, the boy was lost to the thing inside. He'd be killed again any second now and she just stood there.

Suddenly, a white flash raced past the entrance, shortly followed by a giant claw from inside the building tearing down the doors and revealing what was hiding in the warehouse.

A gigantic bat with a skull as it's head and two people casually standing on each side of it.

"You dare steal my prey?", the bat hissed towards the white flash.

"I'm not stealing anything. If at all, you are." The confident voice of the man from earlier resounded from right next to Aoi. He was holding Toko under one arm in in the other he was holding- was that a freaking lightsaber from Star Wars? He put the boy on his feet, who seemed to have snapped out of his trance, kneeled down to look him in the eyes on an even level and said: "Don't worry, this will all be over in an instant. You just stay put, I will take care of that big scary monster real quick, alright?"

He gave him a wink, got up and turned towards the giant bat. Without a word, he started walking towards it. The monster hissed and fell back as much as possible, while the kid's parents were _still _just standing around and doing nothing.

"Don't you dare come any closer Quincy scum, or I swear I will-"

"Or you swear you will what?", he interrupted him while raising his lightsaber. "Kill me? I'd love to see you try, besides that seems like a very odd threat, given the fact that you just backed away from me. Oh, let me guess; you'll attack the parents of the little boy over there? Trust me, before you can even so much as lay a finger on them I'll have shaved your entire body and suffocated you with the fur."

The one-liner was kind of awkward, but the man's smile was confident. Aoi couldn't help but get the feeling that he was trying really hard to be cool.

"Oh you see", the bat cackled. "I don't need to touch them."

The Quincy suddenly hesitated. "Well great, good to see that we agree on that-"

"Because I already have."

Suddenly, the parents started to move. Very slowly, with sudden and aprupt movements, which were as creepy as they were unnatural. Then, they both looked at the boy simultaneously and said: "Come to mommy and daddy my little boy."

They took a few steps further.

"Come to us", they said.

Toko fell on his back, shivering and his eyes filled with fear. "No", he answered with a shaky voice.

"Come to us", they said again, this time more forceful.

"No, I don't wanna. You're not my mommy and daddy", the boy answered a bit more assured this time.

The parent's voices started to sound otherworldly all of a sudden, encompanied by something that could only be described as an echo.

"COME TO US!", they screamed. Their images started to fall apart, holes were forming in their chests, followed by them vomiting a white substance that formed into masks while they were growing and turning into monstrosities.

The father turned into a big ape while the mother turned into a hideous snake. They now stormed towards the boy with unbelievable speed, calling out for him in their distorted voices.

They didn't come far though, as they were stopped by several projectiles made of blue energy.

"No-", the bat screamed and looked like it was trying to attempt something before three of the projectiles hit its head. All live seemed to leave its body as it fell on the ground.

Aoi looked to where the man was standing, who was now holding something that looked like a cross made of the same blue energy as the projectiles. The energycross dissolved and the man turned around to walk towards the boy, who was still lying on the ground and understandably scared.

He kneeled down in front of him again to look him in the eyes. "I'm sorry that you had to see that, kid. But your mommy and daddy they… they became evil spirits. They were corrupted by the evil batmonster, it wasn't their fault. But if I wouldn't have stopped them, they would have killed thousands of other people. Do you think they would have wanted that?"

His voice was comforting and compassionate and Aoi could tell that he really meant what he said. Toko appearantly did too, even if he was crying. He nodded and reached out for the hand that the man was presenting to him.

"You're very strong, do you know that?", he asked. He tried to cheer the boy up, though only to expected moderate success.

"You should try to move on to the afterlife", he then suggested to the boy.

"How do I do that?", the boy snieved and looked up to the man.

"Try to make piece with what happened", he answered. "Try to accept all of this, and find some sort of inner peace. I don't really know how it works, I've never done it before. If you should have trouble with that though, there is a man in this town who could help you with that. His name is Ichigo Kurosaki. He's not really someone you can overlook even if you'd try. Go search for the Kurosaki clinic and find the boy with bright orange hair. If you explain the situation, he will help you."

The boy nodded and then said: "Thank you. Thank you both." Then he dawned a sad smile and turned invisible.

Aoi waited until he was completely gone, then she walked up to the man, pointed at him angrily and said: "You. Explain."

"Explain what exactly?", he retorted in a polite fashion.

"Everything. Every. Thing. What were those monsters? How did you kill them? What was that cross thing you had in your hand about a second ago and was that other thing a freakin' lightsaber from Star Wars?"

She realized she was getting a bit hysterical, but given the circumstances, she thought that was kind of justified.

"Do you want the short version or the long version?"

"I want the explained version."

"Very well. The things you just saw are so called Hollows, ghosts that have either wandered the earth for too long or were corrupted by other Hollows. You might have heard the bat-like Hollow calling me a Quincy and that is precisely how I killed it, with the abilities that come with being a Quincy. The cross thing in my hand is actually something called Heilig Bogen, or just holy bow for you. The other thing I had in my hand is not really like the lightsabers from Star Wars. Well, it may look that way but it certainly works very differently."

"Okay but… how did you find us? Have you been following us around the entire time? Who even are you?"

"Ah yes, how rude of me, I haven't even properly introduced myself. My name is Ishida Uryu, pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Aoi Shichika, likewise. Now, how did you find us?"

"I never actually left. To be honest, I must admit that the whole story with thanking Shizuma-sensei was somewhat of a half-truth. She did help me with a medicine project of mine, but I have already expressed my gratitude towards her. I just so happened to see you when I was on the way out around that evening, I assume you work some late shifts from time to time?"

"Some of us have to do more to get by than others, but you're strolling away from the subject."

"Ah yes, apologies. Like I said, I never actually left and followed you and the boy because I had a suspicion that his parents may have already turned. And sadly, I was right."

"Alright that explains… mostly everything I wanna know. Do you know if these things turn up often around here?"

"Rarely as of late, but every so often an incident does occur."

She hesitated, partially insecure if she'd even want to know much less do what she was gonna ask next, since it was contradictory to what she actually wanted to accomplish: staying the hell away from that new world, but still, she had to ask.

"Those Quincy powers of yours… is it possible to learn that? I mean, is it some kind of religion, or secret society that one has to enter?"

"Some of that last part yes, but no, you cannot learn what I can do. Being a Quincy is a family thing, powers received through the bloodlines and not some kind of cult if that's what you think."

"Hey no problem, I was just curious. I want to stay the hell away from this stuff anyway. I kind of have to go though, I'm running late, so see ya. And thank you for saving me", she said but already turned around to get on her bike and drive away.

"I said you cannot learn what I can, I didn't say it's impossible for you to learn anything at all."

She stopped and turned back towards him. "You could be able to develop some unique power, if you have what I think you have. Does your mother still live?"

"Yeah, why?", she asked puzzled.

"Ask her if anything strange happened during her pregnancy, a kind of unexplainable incident or accident she was involved in. If that's the case, look for either a man named Sado Yasutora or a girl called Riruka Dokugamine. They can teach you how to use your power, if that is what you wish."

She thought about it for a moment, but immediately dismissed the idea.

"Thanks for the generosity, but I'd rather like the things to stay the way they are. Like I said, I only asked out of curiousity. Have a nice night." And with those word she turned around again and started driving away.

"Yes, you too", Ishida called after her.

She drove a few minutes and then remembered that she had actually planned to go to the store. Shit. She took a look at her wrist watch and hoped she would make it in time. It was only a few blocks away, she could make it.

She drove as fast as she could. Only a few more corners. Only two more. Only one… She arrived just in time to see them hang the "closed" sign at the entrance door.

She drove up to it, and knocked at the glass, gaining the attention of the store keeper.

"Please sir, I just need a few minutes, that's all."

He pointed at the sign and said: "We're closed, come back tomorrow."

She grunted and turned around, grabbed her bike and got on her way home. This had been the weirdest and most disturbing day of her life and it was throwing a lot at her. First it had just been ghosts, which had been kind of acceptable, if a little unsettling.

Now it was evil ghost monsters that could corrupt normal ghosts to turn into freaky, weird, freaky evil ghost monsters that left a pretty haunting impression. And then there was the sort of… ghost hunter (he certainly wasn't a ghostbuster, although he seemed ridiculous enough). The ghosthunter with the lightsaber.

She just shook her head.

She needed to get some fucking sleep. Luckily, she was about to get it, as the apartement building she called her home came in sight. She put her bike back into the storage room, walked up the stairs, got inside her apartement, saw that her mother had already gotten home and probably fallen asleep, brushed her teeth, took off her clothes and shot them somewhere in a corner and then collapsed onto her bed, hoping she would wake up the next morning and remembering all of this as nothing more than a bad dream.

**Author's notes:**

So, do you guys remember how I once said I'll keep a regular update schedule? (Laughs nervously) yeah, me neither. It's just that my life has been picking up speed again with work, relationships and other things I had to do. Don't worry though, I will continue this story, that's just a fact. Even if the updates will get rather... irregular like this one now. On the plus side, the chapters keep getting longer and I actually keep getting better with writing them. I once told you that I write 3 chapters in advance if any of ya'll remember that and I'm done with chapter 19 now. So far I gotta say I'm pretty statisfied as to how it turned out. But that's just some explanatory side talk, so let's get on to the actual notes.

So this chapter introduces a new character, Aoi Shichika. And I gotta tell you guys, writing for Aoi is so. Much. Fun. She's the typical protagonist type in a shounen anime(normal everyday person suddenly gets super powers and gets thrown into a completely unknown world, that kinda thing). Not only that, but by witnessing the story through her eyes we can once again experience and appreciate just how ri-goddamn-diculous Bleach actually is. It also gives me as writer the opportunity to make a little fun of the world of Bleach and I love that. Don't misunderstand me, I love Bleach just as much as the next guy, hence why I'm putting so much effort into this fanfiction. Seriously, you people have no idea with how much love I am behind it (okay maybe you do, who am I to assume, don't at me). But let's be real here: Bleach can get pretty goofy at times. And that is perfectly ok, but like, come on guys. This ain't an opportunity I can just pass up.

I also really like Aoi as a character. From just this one chapter it's impossible for you to get just why I like her character so much, but we'll get to that in a few chapters (or more, not sure yet).

Then there's Ishida. It's actually stated in the official Bleach wikia that he's always trying way too hard to be and look cool. Like, he doesn't actually need his cape, but he wears it anyway, because he thinks he looks cool with it. That's why, if any of you felt like the one-liner I gave him was kinda weird, that was completely intentional. Now; Ishida has never really been known to be the sympathetic type, but just like with Renji, I imagined he as a person must have grown quite a bit since the Thousand-year-blood-war, so there's that.

Now for the reason why this chapter hasn't been updated a few days earlier as it was supposed to: I didn't really get around to finish writing chapter 19 until today and there's one simple explanation for that. An anime/manga known by the name "The promised Neverland". Guys, this show is so good, I'm telling you if you haven't gotten around to watching it, please do yourself the favor and watch it.

I watched the first 12 existing episodes (which cover up to 34 chapters of the actual manga) and because I was so damn curious to find out what happens next, I read the rest. And there's a total of about **150** chapters online, so, go figure. The good news for the people who actually enjoy this passion-project of mine, I've read all of those chapters, so I can now focus my attention on writing again.

Last but not least, a big thank you to all of you who keep waiting for and reading this story, I really appreciate it. And as usual:

If you`ve got your own opinion or ideas, PM me, or, better yet, review the story. I`ll always welcome constructive criticism.

(Go watch "The promised Neverland" though, ya'll deserve some good anime.)


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Strange dreams and stranger people

_A meadow. A forest. A nightly sky, lit by a beautiful comet, radiating a captivating blue light. And a voice, calling out to her, calling for her to listen to-_

Kiara woke up. She got up from her matress, sweat dripping from her nose. That damned dream again. She'd been having it every night for the last week now and it was same parts annoying and concerning. It was pissing her off on one hand, because every time that person was about to tell her something, she woke up.

On the other hand, she was starting to worry, since having the same exact dream each and every day was kind of a red flag. She walked over to the waterbowl and splashed her face with some of the cold liquid. She would have to take a bath later this day, but for that she had to leave her hideout and visit the official women dorms.

She sighed, got dressed and opened the hatch to her little den. It was located in the only forest section that the 11th division had and served ist purpose as a hidden sleeping chamber rather well. Kiara didn't know how Makoto had managed it, but he did something to the area surrounding her secret privat space, since everytime somebody came close to discovering one of her hideaways, they just turned around and left. It had always seemed strange to her, but as soon as Makoto had introduced her to the mechanics of Kido, that mystery had lost most of its intrigue.

She stretched firmly and then started walking out into the day, readying herself for several flip-offs, provocations and insults. Though she couldn't possibly ready herself for what was about to catch her off guard. At first she just heard someone biting into an apple. She didn't pay it any attention, until immediately after, someone bit into an apple _next to her right ear_.

"What the hell?" She turned around to find out who just sneaked up on her without making any noise what so ever.

There were only two people who could get this close to her without blowing so much as a dustcloud on the ground. Until about a week ago, it had only been one, but since the twins were back in squad 11, they constantly tried to get the jump on her and one of them was so good at it, it was almost creepy. He _did_ spend some time in the Onmistukido though, so his skills weren't really that surprising. The only other exception was…

"If you really want to be a fully fledged Shinigami one day, you gotta get better at this part of the job", her mentors voice resounded from her left side.

She spun around, just to see Makoto comfortably laying on a thick branch up in a particularily big tree.

"You're back", she exclaimed joyfull and also a little relieved. "You were gone for so long, did something happen?"

"Well, sort of yeah", he answered while rolling out of the tree and landing on his feet. "You could say that there was a uhm… revolt."

"Against you?"

"Yeah, unthinkable am I right?"

"Not really logical actually. You're helping these people, why would they turn against you?"

"They live like animals down there, to be honest it was only a matter of time until they'd try to get the jump on me. But don't worry, it was no big deal, just time consuming."

"Shouldn't you inform the captain about something like that?", she asked while the two of them started to walk towards the center of the 11th division grounds.

"Already did. Why do you think no one was batting an eye, even though I was gone for three weeks?"

That made sense. She had been asking that question herself, since Makoto had said he would only be gone for about one week.

"Seems about right. So how long are you gonna stay this time?"

"I was actually planning on not moving out again for a while."

A smile lit up her face. "Really?"

"Yeah. After some… reconciliation with a few additional parties I came to the conclusion that being on leave for such a long time isn't actually beneficial for your "education". Also, I got kinda scolded for being away for too long, even if it couldn't be helped, go figure", he said and shrugged his shoulders, to which both of them had to laugh a little.

"Soooooo, I guess you wanna start with the training straight away?", she asked while trying to sound optimistic. She wasn't really that crazy for another beating, but she really wanted to try out everything she had learned in the past three weeks.

"Oh, hell no", he answered contrary to her expectations. "I just came back from a three weeks trip full of distress, adrenalin and fighting, so that's gonna have to wait for now. I was actually thinking we could take the day off and just hang around a bit and relax, maybe you can tell me what I missed, for example your special training day with Abarai-sensei and so on."

"… this feels like a trap."

"Well it's not."

"It feels like it is."

"Yeah, but it ain't."

She squinted her eyes and looked at him suspiciously. He returned her gaze with a relaxed and honest one. "I'm not kidding you, little warmachine. I'm exhausted, at my nerves end and in desparate need for a break. And a bath. And some sake, not necessarily in that order. And from the looks of it, you could use some too."

"What, sake or a bath?"

"Yes."

"You know I'm underage."

"Never stopped me."

"Yes, but I have morals and you broke into the Shinigami-academy just to prove that you could."

"He told you that?", he said and chuckled a little.

"Among other things", she said mysteriously and dawned a faint smile herself.

"Anyhoodle", he continued, "this is what I'm gonna do for today. You can decide for yourself if you want in or not. I wouldn't really understand why you'd choose not to, but hey, I'd respect it. It's up to you really. You're free to join me, except maybe in the bath, for obvious ethical reasons."

"As if that was a real choice. I actually do need a break too, Akito and the twins have been unbelievably relentless the last four days."

"Akito and the who now? Also, Akito? I thought he was, to put it in your words "too spiritually taxing" to hang around."

"Yeah, but that was before I had no other choice than to spend some time with him, mainly to give him the fight he's always getting on my case about. Also to shut him up about it, mostly the latter. You were gone, the captain was busy being, well-"

"The captain?"

"Yes. 3rd seat Yumichika was too busy looking beautiful to nobodys surprise and vice-captain Madarame was busy getting drunk, so my hands were pretty much tied here. I thought to myself "if you gotta do it anyway, do it right now". Which worked at first, but then I agreed to go with him to welcome some people out of the prison back into freedom. Those people were the twins, who are your greatest fans by the way."

He stopped. "What?"

"Oh yeah, you have a fanclub now."

"… I'm gonna need some more details on that one."

"What kind?"

"The kind that explains why I have a fanclub. God, that sentence sounds wrong."

"Remember how you broke into the academy?"

"Yeah, good times, what about it?"

"They kind of became inspired by your, in their words, "act of pure savagery" and tried to top that. I think they succeeded, because they broke into the research department."

"They fucking what?"

"That's the reason why they're in prison. Or were, actually."

"That's weird, I thought all matters regarding the research department fell into captain Mayuris hands and from what I know, he would have done whatever it takes to get them in his fingers. Were there some exceptional circumstances, did the central 46 decide on anything?"

"Actually, they did. After the twins willingly gave them every bit of information as to how they managed to break into the complex, their sentence was reduced to only one year."

"Seems a little tame for the central 46."

"If they have any instances like that ever again in the next 20 years, major or minor, they will be "volunteered" as personal guinea pigs to captain Mayuri."

"Ah, there it is."

"My thoughts exactly", she said. "By the way, is he really as bad as everyone says?"

"Who?"

"Captain Mayuri."

He looked at her and started walking again. "Ah, him. Depends on what you heard and what you define as bad."

"Egotistical and maniacal science-freak?"

"Oh, if it were only that", Makoto sighed. "Sadly, that's only the tip of the iceberg. I'm wondering to this day as to how he became captain of anything in the first place. He's straight up bat-shit crazy, even compared to our captain."

Kiara raised and eyebrow gave him a disbeliefing glance. "You're kidding."

"Let's do a little headcount here shall we. Extreme sotiopathic tendencies bordering on psychotic sometimes, as well as narcissistic ones. Giant ego, infrequent outbursts, he uses piano tiles instead of regular ass keys for his personal computer, which is more for safety reasons I think, still weird though. The saying "my body is a temple" really only applies to this dude if you throw rational humane thinking straight out the window, he literally scienced the shit out of himself, his body is a minefield, a weapon arsenal, a poison factory and so on and forth. He once resurrected a few Arrancars and rigged them with electric charges in case they didn't follow his command, which again, could be seen as a safety reason if you can look past the fact that he literally created walking talking _zombies_. If a captain died, he wouldn't even bat an eye, on the contrary, I think he'd go fucking nuts over the fact that he finally gets to dissect a body like. He constructs weird superdrugs that cause major psychological as well as physical traumas that you couldn't even begin to understand and he tests them on his enemys for fun. Somewhat over six years ago he rigged his own subordinates with explosives as a _diversion_ and when it didn't work, he blew them up anyway, and not even for shits and giggles, tormenting people is just fucking halftime entertainment for this guy."

He stopped talking and just sighed.

"The list goes on and on. I could write you an entire book in full detail about the things he did in the past few years and those would only be the ones I know about. Four and a half years ago he was up in the Soul Kings palace and only god knows what kind of sick shit he pulled there. But enough about our unsettling leaders", he said and pointed towards the building in front of them. "It's time for a bath", he said with joy and stretched his arms out. "I'll meet you in the dining room behind the bath house in an hour or so. Should be long enough, right?"

She nodded approvingly. Then he vanished, most likely having moved towards the bath house via a high-speed movement called shunpo.

Much to Kiaras displeasure, she couldn't do that (yet). She was hellbent on learning it though, since it proved to be a great quick-exit strategy, but also because it was cool as hell.

She sighed and walked towards the house in front of her. It wasn't particularly big, but big enough to be gender divided.

She entered and quickly got to the changing rooms, where she undressed and took a towel from the untouched staple, then walked towards the actual bath. It was a nice little room, carved out of stone with a little pool in the middle of it that was filled with water. No one else but her was using the room, which had its merits. It was the only place aside from her little hideaways where she could enjoy some peace and quiet. Though she was starting to get used to both the environment and inhabitants of the 11th division, she still valued every bit of alone time she could get. It wasn't really because she didn't want to be around those people but rather because they were pretty exhausting at times.

Especially the twins and they haven't even been around for a full week yet. When she had agreed to go wekcome them back into freedom, she hadn't really thought about the onslaught she willingly exposed herself to.

At first, they had seemed normal, pretty laid back given the fact that they had just been released from prison, but People tended to be pretty fucking weird here in Soul Society, so she slowly but surely started to just roll with it. And then they found out that she was the personal disciple of their idol, at which point shit went sideways. They were all over her every moment they could, asking her questions about Makoto, where he was, if she could introduce them to him and so on and forth.

At some point she had peaced out and got to her hideout, where she had lost them, only for them to immediately get the jump on her the next day as soon as they could. It wasn't even the fact that they were rude, on the contrary, they were very polite. They were just very excited. Like little children. _Persistent _little children. She was glad Makoto was back, now all she had to do was make them acquaintances and she had one problem less. Especially because it turned out that the twins loved to just fuck with people and somehow she knew it was only a matter of time until she also entered their target demographic.

It was really better this way, since she tended to have a pretty short fuse when it came to things like that and had already been on the verge of rediscovering her sadistic side. In that case, she would have just lured them to the captain and told him they flipped him off behind his back, which, admittedly, was a little extreme (well, not just a little), but Akito fought him once and he was still (sometimes too) alive and kicking, so the captain had to know some kind of restraint. Plus, the twins had broken into the _research department_, after having spent some significant time in other squads, so she was sure that they would have been fine. Mostly.

The water inside the bath was always heated, which again, had always fascinated Kiara until the point where she had been introduced to the concept of Kido. From that point on forward, she had just started to assume that everything unexplained in Soul Society was either Kido, or some mechanic she didn't know about. Usually both. She put her hair up in a bun and let herself slide into the water. It was hot, although not to an unpleasant degree. She took her time to fully engulf herself in the liquid. When she sat on the ground, everything but her head was in the water. She laid her head back on the edge of the pool and closed her eyes.

She was getting a bit hazy and she felt herself slipping into sleep. Her last few nights had been restless at times, so getting a bit more wouldn't be too bad, would it? She wouldn't sleep too long, but just five minutes would be okay right? She was just getting so tired…

_A wide meadow surrounded by a forest. A nighttime sky lit by a blue comet. An oven with a chimney in the middle of the grassland and a blurry figure, calling out to her, trying to tell her something, trying to-_

Kiara opened her eyes and jumped up wide awake standing upright in the pool and breathing heavily. Now she was already having that dream during a daytime nap. She sighed, calmed herself and sat down again, undid her hair and starting carefully washing it, until she heard a knock at the door to the pool room.

"Yes?", she answered.

"Are you ok? You've been in here for over an hour and a half", Makoto's voice resounded from the other side of the door.

_One and a half hours!?_

She needed this dream to stop, or things would start to get out of control.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just finishing up", she answered.

"A'ight, I'll wait outside."

She finished up, got out of the pool and started drying herself. She got into the changing room and dressed in one of the spare kimonos she always kept there in case she needed a change of clean clothes. She got outside and walked around the bath house to get to the smaller building behind it. She kept walking until she saw a sledding door half opened. When she took a peak inside and saw Makoto sitting at a table with the food already prepared she knew she had come to the right place at the right time.

The dining house was actually just the nickname Makoto had given it, since it was actually thought more of a community building, where people could meet up and play boardgames, drink in private, have private conversations or just hang out in a little more quiet environment.

But since this was the 11th division, this wasn't the case. The main building was actually the real community building, where people would hang out, drink or fight. Usually all three of those and in rare cases even at the same time, which was pretty impressive all things considered.

"Finally. What took you so long?", Makoto asked.

"I fell asleep", she said trying not to sound embarrassed.

"During the bath? It was almost noon when I saw you exit your "quarters", how can you be so tired to fall asleep this soon after waking up?"

"I'm not really sleeping that well lately."

He raised an eyebrow. "How come?"

"I've been havin this stupid dream over and over again."

When she didn't comintue, he tilted his head a little with intrigue and said: "Go on."

"It's always the same. I'm standing in a place I've never seen before and yet it feels familiar. In that place is a person that tries to tell me something, but everytime that person opens its mouth, the dream ends."

He murmured surprised and gestured her to take a seat. "I know what it is", he said while loading his plate with food.

"Really?", she asked surprised, while putting her sword next to her on the ground and also starting to fill her plate. Makoto had prepared a whide variety of foods, including the obligatory rice, several different sauces, raw meet to grill on the hot rock in the middle of the table, noodles, vegetables and so on. Of all the things Kiara would have never suspected about her mentor, it was that he was a pretty great cook.

"Yeah. Actually, most Shinigami experience what you are going through now. I even know the thing that's causing those dreams."

"That's awesome. How can I get rid of it?"

Makoto burst out in howling laughter before choking on the food he had so generously shoved into his mouth moments ago. After clearing his throat with some tea, he answered: "You can try to do that, but you can't."

She squinted her eyes and asked: "As in; I specifically am unable to, or it's generally not possible."

"The latter. That is, if you want to become a Shinigami", he answered.

"Is it a part of my spiritual body?"

"Yes and no", he smirked.

"Is this a philosophical thing?"

"Depending on who you talk to."

"Can you be more specific?"

"Yeah I can."

After he didn't continue for a few seconds, she asked: "…are you going to be?"

He laughed again, this time more calm. "Yeah, I will. Don't worry, I won't leave you in the dark with this one. What's causing your dreams, is actually right next to you", he said and nodded towards the side where her sword was laying.

She looked at the sword and back to him. Back to the sword and back to him again. "I don't get it."

"Ok, did Abarai-sensei teach you anything about the swords we carry around with us?"

"Yeah, a lot actually. They're called Zanpakutous, they're basically alive, they each have a name which they tell you after some period of time has passed in which you've grown strong enough."

"And there you have the solution to your problem."

"…huh?", she asked confused.

"Really? You don't- ok look. It varies from Shinigami to Shinigami how they learn their swords names. Some hear it during situations of extreme stress and/or pressure, others during hard training. Then there are rare cases like captain Toshiro Hitsugaya, who hear their names before they even get their sword. In his case, he heard his Zanpakutous voice through a dream. Kind of like…", he said pointed towards her with his chopsticks.

"Me."

"Yes."

"I'm having dreams about my Zanpakutou."

"Right again."

"My sword is trying to tell me its name", she concluded.

Makoto just hummed affirmatively with a full mouth.

Slowly dawning a huge smile, she almost squeed a little and then repeated with excitement: "My sword is trying to tell me its name. That is so awesome!"

She frolicked a little longer until she came to a halt. "But then why can't I understand what it's trying to tell me?"

"Could be because you're strong enough to _start_ hearing its voice, but you still have ways to go until you can actually have a clear communication. By the way, you _do_ know what it means when you know your swords name, right?"

"Yeah, with the name I get the Shikai."

"Oh good, you know about Shikai already. Guess Abarai-sensei covered most of the holes I left in your knowledge about Shinigamis."

"He went over the basics, yeah. Speaking of which, he said you'd become stronger when you get your Shikai, but what exactly does stronger mean in this case? Do you get a literal powerboost or something like that, how does it work?"

"In some cases it is that simple, yes. However, it's a little more complicated than that. With a sword release come unique abilities as well and those range from simply changing the form of your blade, to unlocking powerful techniques only privy to you. So until you unlock yours, you can only speculate what kind of power will awaken inside you once you get it."

Unbridled joy took hold of her once again as she started speculating just what kind of ability she would manifest, all while continuing to eat. There were so many possibilities, so many things she hoped for, so many things she'd love to have. It would be so damn cool if her sword would transform into a canon of sorts that could shoot energybeams, or if it would become a giant meatcleaver that would scare everyone shitless who would think of picking a fight with her (she was mainly thinking about Akito with that one). That got her wondering…

"What kind of abilities does _your_ Shikai give you? Does it make you stronger? Or faster? Does it let you shoot lasers everywhere, or can you kill people with by simply looking at them?"

"While that last one sounds ridiculously awesome, I can't do that. Also, I don't think that kind of ability even exists. For the rest of your suggestions: yes and no", he said with a smirk.

"Could you be more specific?"

"Yeah I could."

"… are you going to-"

"No."

"Oh come on, that's just not fair."

"Never claimed to be", he remarked while loading his plate again. "I might tell you in the future, if you can actually push me to the point of having to use my Shikai in a training match."

"Which is gonna be forever."

"Who says that?"

"Uh, common sense does? You're bound to have had your Shikai for a long period of time by now and by the time I reach mine you'll probably already have achieved Bankai, if you haven't already."

Makoto remained remarkably quiet after that comment while his eyes took on a strangely absent expression for a few moments.

"… you already did, didn't you."

"Who says that?", he said in a relatively calm manner, but something just didn't seem natural enough, so she kept at it.

"You did, just now."

"I didn't say anything."

"Exactly. Which means you're hiding something. You would have flat out told me if you didn't have it yet, but you didn't deny or confirm my suspicion, which pretty much confirms it when we're talking about you."

"It's not wrong for me to be quiet once in a while."

"It _is_ unusual though."

"Look kid, even if I had a Bankai, which I don't, I certainly wouldn't tell you. Who knows to whom you'd blurt that out on accident or on purpose. If that word gets around, I'd actually be summoned by the captain, so he could test it out. And once that happens, I'm royally fucked."

"Well, maybe you wouldn't tell me, but if you actually didn't have it, you wouldn't be so fierce on getting me to believe that", she said and dawned a self-statisfied smile.

Something weird happened next. Makoto stopped eating and just looked at her and while he didn't show it that much, she could tell by the look in his eyes that he was getting worked up over something. It could have only been her mind playing tricks on her though, because moments later he was back to his old self again and said: "Let's just agree to have this discussion another time, alright?"

"Oh, the only thing we agree on is that we disagree. You have a freaking _Bankai_, that's huge, why haven't you applied for captain yet?"

"Alright first, let's just assume that I'd actually make it to a captain's position. Whatever division I'd have jurisdiction over would be doomed since we hypothesizing about me getting a position of authority, except maybe ours, but for me to become captain of the 11th, captain Zaraki would have to be either ruled out, or bested in single combat and both of us know that none of those two are gonna happen, especially the latter. Poor bastard who tries that has my pity.  
Second, a captain's seat demands more qualifications than simply having a Bankai. I luckily lack those, or they'd actually consider to put me in a captain's seat."

"Well, you may not have those qualities, but you _do_ have a Bankai. You didn't deny it this time", she added when he attempted to say something.

"And why would I? You're already hellbent on believing that I can do it, whether I deny it or not. And since we're never getting anywhere with that, you can just go ahead and drop it."

"Not until I get you to admit it."

"Kid, it's not funny anymore, drop it", he said with a slight warning undertone.

"I will. After you admit it."

"Look, I'm serious, drop the subject", he said devoid of his usual lighthearted tone this time.

"Come on, it's not that hard. Just say "yes I have a-""

"Kiara!", he yelled and this time she stopped. He had never really been this serious before and it kind of scared her. He took a deep breath in and slowly breathed out again, then he said with an apologetic tone: "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you. You can't possibly know this and it's kind of my fault for not telling you right away, but that whole Bankai thing is… it's a very personal matter to me and I don't like talking about it. I'm really sorry."

She calmed down herself and got it together again. "It's okay, I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have pushed you on it. It's just- you never tell me anything. You're never letting on and you're always full of secrets and "tell you sometime later"s and "you're not ready for that yet"s and it gets really frustrating. I'm sure you have you reasons for some of it, but I guess I was just excited that you finally made a slip-up."

He buried his face in his hands and sighed. "Oh trust me kid, I know what you mean. No matter what teacher you have, they will always keep something from you, but that's just the way things go. And there are valid reasons for most of it. I'd love to tell you all of it, but I can't, not right now. I know I sound like a broken record, but eventually, you will know all the answers to your questions", he said sincerely. "Can you accept that for now?"

"I'll try", she said equally honest.

"Great"; he remarked, back to his usual playful manner, "then let's get back to lunch, or else the foods gonna get cold."

They continued eating and an uncomfortable silence started filling the room. After a while it was almost as if it was suffocating her, so she tried to break the mold.

"But do you actually have one?", she asked and tried to put on a joking manner.

He just looked at her and raised an eyebrow, to which she replied. "Okay, okay just kidding."

He must have noticed the silence himself, because he didn't really let it expand again and picked up the word. After he cleared his throat a bit, he said: "So, your meeting with Abarai-sensei. How did that go?"

"It was very cool actually. He was pretty casual throughout the whole thing, not at all what you said he'd be like."

"Well, he was probably being generous since I'm your mentor-"

He was about to finish his sentence, but was interrupted by a knocking sound from outside the door.

"Fucking hell, what now?", he cursed and got up to open the sledding door.

"Listen pal, whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait until-", he started but interrupted himself this time, because he seemed just too confused to continue speaking.

Two people were standing outside the door. They both looked remarkably similar in terms of build, size and facial , but differed in other things.

Ones hair was almost shaved on the sides while the other kept it at an overall short length of about three centimeters. Both had blonde hair and brown eyes.

The one with normal cut hair wore a normal Shinigami kimono, while having weird tattoos on his arms, not unlike Makoto's.

The one with the sidecut stood out more. Instead of one zanpakutous, he was carrying two shorter ones on each side of his hip. The sleeves of his kimono were non-existent, instead he was wearing a shirt under it with tight sleeves reaching down to his wrists.

But despite all their differences, both had the same hyper-excited smile on their face. They didn't even say anything, they just smiled.

Kiara could tell exactly what Makoto was thinking right now.

First it was creepy.

Then it was concering.

Then it was creepy again.

Some time passed and neither side said a word, which created a very drawn out awkward silence. Makoto finally found his voice again and said: "Would you excuse us for a moment?", and slammed the door shut again. Then he turned around to Kiara and looked at her almost accusingly.

"What?", she said after he remained silent while continuing to stare at her.

"Explain please."

"Ah, right, you haven't actually had the time to meet them yet. Allow me to introduce you to your new fanclub."

"New fan- ah yeah, you mentioned the twins. Why are they smiling at me like they forgot what the purpose of a smile actually is?"

"Why don't you ask them?"

"I'm asking you."

"Dude, I don't know either. I've known them for like four days, I'm as lost as you are. All I know is that the one with the sidecut is called Kenjiro Kaemon and the other one is Hiroshi Kaemon."

Makoto frowned for a few seconds, until he turned around again. He opened the door and looked at the twins, who were still smiling (which was starting to go from creepy to concerning again).

"Look guys, from what I heard you're pretty excited to meet me and I'm really flattered and all, but right now isn't really a good time, so how about we postpone this little get together to a later point in time, alright?"

He waited a few seconds to give them time to answer but they didn't. It almost seemed like they were frozen.

"Uhm, guys, are you ok? Hello?", he asked actually a little concerned now and waved his hand around in front of their faces.

"Hey, snap out of it", he said and clapped his hands. That finally got a reaction from the twins. They both shook themselves loose, as if they had been in a paralysis or something.

Hiroshi, the normal looking twin was the first one to speak. "Yes, of course, forgive us if we made you worry there for a second, it's just…"

"…we're so excited to finally get to meet you, you know?", Kenjiro ended his sentence.

"I noticed", Makoto remarked a little dry. "Look, I appreciate your adoration, but I just got back from a three weeks trip full of stress, physical as well as psychological, adrenalin and severe anxiety. Don't take this the wrong way but I'd really like for this one day to be as uneventful as possible."

"Oh, yes absolutely. Well approach you tomorrow, if that is okay with you", Hiroshi responded.

"How about monday next week? I might not really be around the next few days."

"Yeah, sure, that would be awesome. Thank you for this opportunity", Kenjiro said. Another awkward drawn out silence started to fill the atmosphere, until Kenjiro made the even more awkward attempt to break it.

"Hey Kiara", he said and waved nervously.

"'sup guys", she responded and was already shoving food into her mouth again.

"Well, I guess we'll, uhm, leave you alone then", Hiroshi said and slightly bowed to Makoto, immediately followed by his brother. Then, they disappeared via Shunpo or flash step as it was also called and left the two alone.

Without a uttering a word, Makoto closed the door slowly turned around, sat down and stared at his plate for several seconds before looking at Kiara.

"Well, that was fucking weird", he said while starting to eat again.

"Yeah, no kidding. Even my first encounter with them wasn't this… strange."

"No, no, it's not just them it's… they were actually lost for words just from looking at me. I mean, that reaction is normal when you meet your idol, but considering that _I_ am filling that idol position, is very concerning."

"You're not…_ that_ bad all things considered. I mean sure, you have your shortcomings, but I don't see how that would put you in the kind of bad light you constantly present yourself in."

He stopped eating for a second and his chopsticks were practically hovering in the air as he put on a suspiciously sheepish face, before he slowly continued.

"Ok, what did I miss?"

"The question is more what haven't you been told. Speaking of telling, Abarai-sensei did do that in regards to my time at the academy, right?"

"Yeah, he did, why?"

"Did he tell you anything else than that story?"

"A few things regarding the way you trained, but otherwise no not exactly. Why, is there more?"

"Oh, you have no idea."

"Seriously?", she said half amused, half surprised.

"Yup. One that I'm pretty fond of is the fight I had with the captain of the 6th division. Don't worry, it wasn't a real fight", he quickly added after Kiara dawned a somewhat shocked expression.

"It was more of a sparring session. He wanted to see how far I've come with my training. If that would have been a real fight, I'd be dead and he'd be laughing. If he'd ever laugh. I managed to surprise him and blew him off the fighting grounds, courtesy of my Shikai ability. Still not gonna tell you", he quickly added again, before she could even begin to word the question.

"He took some time to figure out what my ability actually was, and during that time I managed to break three houses by crashing him into it, chop 8 trees and attract captain Zarakis attention and once that was done, he immediately ran over to the 6th division grounds to see if there was some good entertainment to be had. Before he had arrived though, captain Kuchiki figured out how my Shikai worked and once he knew that he pretty much owned me. At that point we were interrupted by captain Zaraki. He and captain Kuchiki started to argue and after some time, they completely forgot about me and started their own fight, that had to be interrupted by the friggin' captain-commander himself. So yeah, that was pretty fun."

"Fun? Dude, that sounds legendary. You crashed a captain of the Gotei 13 through houses, that is so cool."

"Correction, I _surprised_ a captain of the Gotei 13 through a few houses and when he figured me out, he schooled my ass. He didn't even use his own Shikai, he just spammed me with Kido. He could have simply won by evading all my attacks and putting his blade on my throat, because the dude is fast as hell, but he didn't, he just overpowered me with offensive Kido, or Hado as it's also called. He didn't even use any complicated spells, just the pure fucking basics, which became a force of nature with his spiritual pressure behind it."

"That sounds awesome"; she said and was glowing with amazement.

"It really wasn't", he responded almost a little bitter.

"I thought you were fond of that story."

"Yeah, but more of the fact that I was the indirect reason for two captains fighting over a pissing contest than anything else."

She just hummed as a response and thought about what other stories there were that she hadn't heard about, until she remembered something.

"Okay quick change of topic, before I forget it. You told the twins you wouldn't be around this week, but you told me you would. Which is it?"

"Both actually. I won't be around _here_ this week, but I'll still be around you. We're making a field trip."

"To your working place?", she said hopeful.

"Nope", he answered nonchalantly and put his empty plate on the table.

_Fuck._

"But something just as fun. We'll be visiting an old family member of mine."

"You have family?"

"Is that so hard to believe?", he said and raised an eyebrow.

"No, no it's just- you never mentioned you had relatives."

"I don't."

She grimaced in confusion and threw her hands up in the air, which caused him to chuckle a bit.

"I don't have bloodrelatives, but there is a concept called "foster-family"."

"See, now it makes sense."

"Yeah. We'll be visiting my foster… father? Grandfather? I don't know, one of the two. He's old enough to be a grandpa and he certainly looks the part, but he's been my fatherfigure ever since he took me in."

"And where is that fosterfather / grandfather?"

"A long fucking walk away."

She frowned and glared at him to prompt him into giving her an answer without having to ask for it.

He sighed and got up. "District 63", he then said and started clearing the table.

"That's a long fucking walk away!", she protested. She had only walked that distance once. When Makoto had found her months ago, just after she had become a soul. She remembered it taking days without end, or at least that's how it had felt.

"Funny", he responded. "I could have sworn I just said that."

She grimaced towards him again and got up to help clear the table.

"We'll be leaving tomorrow morning. In the meantime we could try to do something about your dreams."

"Yes _please_", she said, promptly motivated.

He gathered up most of the dishes and gestured her pick up the rest and follow him. "That world you constantly see. Describe it."

She took a few seconds to recall the beautiful scenery. "It's a meadow full of grass but without flowers, surrounded by a forest. It's always night and instead of the moon, a blue comet lights up the sky and the earth. There is always something floating over the trees, but I can never make that part out. In the middle of the meadow is an oven, or a chimney with a fire in it, I can never make that out either, it's always blurry."

Makoto stopped, turned around and looked at her with geniuene surprise. "That's fucking beautiful. Gotta say, I'm a bit jealous."

"Why?"

"Because what you just described is your inner world. To explain it more understandable, it's sort of an astral plane, where you communicate with your Zanpakutou."

"That's how I communicate with it?"

"That's how _everyone_ communicates with their Zanpakutou spirit. Every Shinigami has an inner world. And if yours looks the way it sounds, then it looks very pretty."

"Thanks I guess."

"You don't sound very convincing."

"Well, having a beautiful inner world, or astral plane or whatever it's called is great and all but doesn't really help me sleep."

"Yeah, getting to that. Take some time later in the day to meditate. Sit down, legs crossed and put your sword in your lap. Focus on your inner world, or what you know of it and you might actually end up being in it again. Who knows, maybe you'll even understand what your blade is trying to tell you. It's not gonna work on the first try, but it will most likey shorten the time it'd take until you can hear your swords name. Give it a shot and let's see how it goes."

"I'll try", she said.

ooo

Makoto saw Kiara off and the two of them parted ways. She was getting back to her hideout to try and get into her inner world on her own, while he was getting back to his quarters to prepare a few things.

He was walking on the street and was about to take a turn when he heard a deep, raspy voice he hadn't heard in quite a while.

It started out as a small chuckle that slowly built up to howling laughter.

"_She figured you oooouuuuuut", t_he voice said in a cheery sing-sang. "_She figured you out GOOD."_

"Well, you're certainly in a good mood", Makoto remarked.

"_How can I not?"_, his zanpakutou responded. "_That was just precious. All these months of carefull disguised mockery and all it takes for her to get on your case is one tiny slip-up. She's pretty sharp. Think you can keep your little sharade up?"_

"If nobody rats me out, sure, why not. What do you want?"

"_Oh what, am I not allowed to have a friendly chat with my partner anymore?"_

"Oh, of course you are. You've just been so quiet the last few weeks, I thought the cat got your tongue."

"_If the lieutenant from squad 10 was that cat she could have my tongue all day long."_

"Dude!"

"_What? She's hot."_

"Still dude."

"_Whatever. You should watch out for that little protégé of yours though. If you bring a few more of them wrong reactions she's gonna get you cold."_

"Well aware buddy, well aware."

"_Just a little reminder. Would be a shame if she got all angry up on our asses. She's growing on me."_

"You and me both man."

"_Little word of advice. Watch your excuses. It's not just her, but everybody else too. Talking about district 80 is really good an' all, but when they decide to go checkit out, and they will, then you're gonna have to think up more than just an excuse. Not to mention that the discussion / investigation regarding your little break-in five months ago is suspiciously quiet. One of these days those things are gonna blow up in your face and when they do the boy is screwed. If he isn't already."_

"I know, it's not like I wasn't reminded two times already."

"_Good. So long as you don't forget it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go take a nap."_

"Sure, go ahead."

Susanoo. That was the name of Makoto's Zanpakutou. He was the type to always wear a mischievous smile and even if Makoto didn't see him when they were just casually talking to eachother like this instance, he knew it was there. His blade was a friendly reminder of facts and priorities, depending on which he thought were more urgent at the time. He was also a little bit of a sadist and wasn't above laughing at Makoto or even himself.

If there was a situation where someone got hurt, be it physically or mentally, Susanoo knew how to take joy out of it. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, sometimes a little laugh was desparately needed.

It could get annoying from time to time, but all things considered, Makoto was pretty glad to have him as his companion.

ooo

"This is agony", Kiara wheezed. "Can't you just carry me the last bit?"

"I'm not an express service kid. Besides, I already carried you the first 50 districts, so I don't see the problem."

"You're trained for this kinda thing."

"I was trained for fighting and not walking, there's a difference. I walked the entire distance with you, I even transported you a huge chunk of the way and you don't hear me complaining."

"You do this on a monthly basis, it's not the same."

"Yeah, but I do it by flashstepping, which is much easier."

"You're better built for this."

"Body structure doesn't really have much to do with it. If anything, you've got an advantage over me, since you're lighter."

She didn't respond to that and when he looked back to her she looked like she was in deep thought.

"Don't tell me you've ran out of arguments."

"…shut up."

Makoto burst out in laughter and turned around again, facing the direction of their destination.

They had left three days ago late in the morning, since the paperwork Makoto had to do regarding their leave and his three weeks absence had been a pain to deal with, which resulted in him oversleeping. To speed things up a bit he kind of "skipped" the major part of their journey, until it got a little bit too exhausting to carry Kiara's and his own weight.

He'd never admit that though, so there they were. The last few days they've been camping outside which hadn't been all that bad all things considered. District 63 was not that far away anymore and the sun stood already past noon. He just hoped Ousai was not out hunting or something, the old fox was rather… unfriendly to people who just invited themselves into his house.

"Is there anything I should know about this person before I meet him?", Kiara asked between two small gasps.

Makoto was about to tell her that Ousai was a wolfman, but decided not to at the last moment and just said: "Just don't overreact when you see him."

"Why, is he horribly disfigured or something?"

"No."

"… then why should I overreact?"

"He's pretty tall."

"I don't think that's something I'd need to keep in mind to not freak out."

"Well, then you have nothing to worry about", he said and kept walking. Later in the early evening he could finally see the lights of district 63. Walking had taken longer than he had anticipated, but they were finally here now.

"Lights. I can see lights. Oh, I can't wait to finally get something to eat, kick back, relax and sleep in a nice, cushy bed and-"

Makoto burst out in laughter again, he just couldn't help it. "You really have a vivid imagination."

"The hell's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that pretty much all of those things won't just be presented to you here, you gotta earn them. Remember, people stopped wearing shoes four districts ago, so don't assume the local residents are just gonna shower you with hospitality."

"But we're the Shinigami who protect Soul Society, doesn't that mean anything to the people here?"

"Emphasis on protect here. If there is nothing to protect them from, then we don't do a lot. Seireitei doesn't manage Rukongai, it just guards it."

"But we do more than that, right? I mean, you're doing something to contribute and last I heard others dedicated themselves to some of the lowest districts too."

"Yeah, but that's infrequent and rare. And these people haven't felt any of that so even if we went into the city, we wouldn't really be that welcome. Well, maybe I'd get some nice gestures, but only because I used to live there and still know some of the people."

"Guess you're right. Wait, "even if we went into the city"? Does this mean we're not?"

"Perceptive as always", he quipped and pointed to a spot to the right side of the city. "This is our actual destination."

"Somewhere in the woods?", she exclaimed. He just chuckled again and kept walking, eventually straying from the main path to a small trampeled one in the forest. They were going pretty slowly and by the time they finally reached Ousai-jiji's cave it was already night.

A fire was crackling in front of it lighting up most of the insides. Something was wrong though. Ousai-jiji was nowhere to be seen, but there was a fire out in the open that even had a pot on top of it. Makoto wanted to continue that train of thought, but his nagging disciple stopped it for him

"He's a caveman?", Kiara shouted exasperated. "Are you telling me I gotta sleep on rocks?"

As if that had been his cue Ousai Soukens deep and sonorous voice resounded from the dark behind them.

"Well, count me surprised. Didn't expect ye back this soon boy."

Both of them turned around, Makoto rather relaxed due to the fact tht he was still used to his foster-father popping up out of nowhere, Kiara rather jumpy due to the exhaustion of the walking most of the day.

And her reaction to seeing Ousai-jiji for the first time was just golden.

"Giant wolf!", she yelled and jumped back, her hand already on her swords grip.

"Haven't heard that one in a while", Ousai said with a sigh and looked at Makoto. "Did you not tell her what I look like boy?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry", Makoto said with a sheepish smile. "I just couldn't resist."

Meanwhile, Kiara was starting to get confused, also slowly turning towards Makoto. "Makoto who is that?"

"Oh right", he responded. "May I introduce to you, Ousai Souken, my foster-father."

That just seemed to confuse her even more. She looked up to Ousai-jiji, taking quick glances at his towering statue, then looking back to Makoto. Back to Ousai-jiji and back to Makoto.

"WHAT!?"

Makoto looked back to Ousai. The latter returned the formers gaze with a little exhaustion in his eyes.

"Well, first impression could be better. At least she's entertainin'. Yer lucky, it's almost time for dinner so we can talk over- girl, take yer hand of that sword, yer gonna hurt yerself."

"You- you're a wolf…man", she stuttered, almost fascinated and a little terrified by the concept of that word.

Ousai-jiji whistled with fake awe. "Ah, a perceptive one. Rivetin'."

She still had her hand on her sword grip, but took it off after a few more moments. She started massaging her temple, sighed and said: "I have so many questions."

ooo

They all sat around in a circle, each of them eating out of a handmade bowl. Kiara had gotten used to Ousai-jiji pretty quickly, once his heritage, his clans history and everything was explained. She also took pride in the fact that she naturally guessed him to be a wolf instead of a dog, as he took that as an insult. She looked pretty self-statisfied.

"So, yer bout to awaken yer Shikai? Yeah, I remember that."

"What was it like? I mean awakening it for the first time", she asked curiously, completely devoid the confusion she had been filled with earlier.

"A pain in the arse, that's what that was", Ousai-jiji responded grumpy. "The man was obnoxiously mistrusting with any information and only told me his name after I basically pulled it out 'is nose."

"Wait, swords have genders?", she asked.

"'Course they do. Why wouldn't they, their livin' beings."

"Huh", she muttered and nodded like that piece of knowledge should have been obvious.

Ousai-jiji emptied his bowl and said: "Ya should probably go ta sleep, girl. Tomorrow's gonna be a hard day for ye. Don't shit yer pants", he added before Kiara even opened her mouth. "There's a futon in there. Might not be what yer used to, but i's either that or the floor."

She looked like she wanted to protest there for a second, but ultimately let it go. She may have known Ousai-jiji for only about an hour, but that was enough time for just about anyone to realize that he didn't like to be argued with.

She mumbled something to herself and walked back into the cave. Ousai-jiji looked after her for a few seconds, then turned around to Makoto.

"So, I'm sure there're still plenty of things ya haven't told me 'bout Soul Society."

"What do you wanna know?", the latter said and helped himself to a second bowl. His fosterfather did the same and gave it some thought, before he finally said:

"There was a ruckus 'bout six years ago, ya wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would ye?"

Oh, he knew, he was there after all. He started at the beginning, with the disappearance of Rukia Kuchiki, the appearance of the Shinigami Substitute, captain Aizens betrayal and everything that happened after. He took it slow and went into detail as much as possible, which was impossible in some places, since he didn't know everything.

They had been talking for at least another half hour or so when Ousai-jiji turned around and directed his eyes towards the cave. Makoto stopped for a second, but the old wolf rolled his wrist and gestured him to continue.

Of course. He had wanted to stall for time, so that they could wait for the girl to fall asleep, probably to talk about more sensitive matters.

Makoto continued where he left off and slowly kept talking while his fatherfigure kept monitoring the cave. The latter had without a doubt expanded his "omniscience" to the sleeping quarters and was surely double-checking if Kiara was really asleep. Then he turned back to Makoto.

"She's asleep."

"Thank god. I don't know how much more I could have ecxagurated that story."

The wolfman let out a small chuckle and nodded affirmatively.

"I can't give ye the advice ya want", he cut straight to the chase. "At least not from an hour of knowing the girl. I'll test her a little tomorrow, so I can see how she thinks, how she reacts and so on."

"I figured as much", Makoto said sighed.

"Don't worry, boy. We'll get this horse back on track, one way or another. Ya should get some rest now too, 's not exactly gonna be easy for ya tomorrow either. Yea may have ta serve as example", the wolfman said with a sly grin.

"It's not exactly gonna be like back then, you know that right?", the son responded with a sharp smile himself.

A slightly menacing growl came from the father's throat. "I smell a challenge when I hear one. Get to bed now, we'll test that theory very thoroughly tomorrow."

"You got it, dad." And with that, Makoto walked into the cave as well. He made sure to be absolutely quiet. He saw Kiara sleeping somewhere in a corner and he had to smile to himself.

When everything began, he had felt alone, hopeless and was under the constant fear that he would fail both the girl and the boy. Now, after some time had passed, after he now had the support of someone he could trust and after seeing Kiara's constant growth, for the first time he had the feeling that he could actually pull this off.

That he could really save them.

**Authors notes:**

I'M BACK BITCHES! Or well, not really back since I never really left but- you know what, I think you get the idea.

For those of you who actually give a damn, here's the explanation as to why this one took so god damned long and no it's not 'cause it's the longest one yet. It's because of some personal issues I've had to deal with that preoccupied my mind so intensely that I even forgot to eat for a whole day once. During that time period which lasted a good two months or so, I was just not in the mood for writing, because I didn't feel like I could write anything remotely readable while in that somewhat depressive state. It was an intense and largely negative experience, but after having gone through that and having found back to my usual emotional state I just feel more like myself now. I know this is probably gonna sound like nonsense to the two or three people who read this, so I'm sorry for that, but I can't really put it into different words. In short: some emotional stuff happened, I did some excessive soulsearching because of it, feel more comfortable with myself now and I'm back to writing and my usual self.

I don't really have that many thoughts on this chapter to be honest. I personally like it a lot, but that's just my opinion.

If you`ve got your own opinion or ideas, PM me, or, better yet, review the story. I`ll always welcome constructive criticism.

(Hey, we hit ten thousand words in one chapter, look at that.)


	19. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Me, owning Bleach? Yeah, as if. Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo and the respective studios.

* * *

Chapter 18: The next step

"You failed", Bainne said, almost yelling at his opposite.

"Yeah, no shit", Setsuzo shot back. "Next time, you send someone over there, maybe give them a proper heads up about THE MOTHERFUCKING ONE WAY TICKET TO HELL CASUALLY WALKING AROUND TOWN!" He screamed and put as much bite into that sentence as he could.

The situation he was talking himself into was really close to actual suicide, but Setsuzo couldn't care less about that. If he had to die for speaking his mind then so be it. He refused to live a life in silence.

"Watch your tongue boy!", his superior now also raised his voice. Bloodlust was leaking from his aura, he wasn't even trying to suppress it.

The two of them were up on the second layer of Hueco Mundo, the vast neverending desert with an always bright sky up above as its ceiling. They were up there so that no other Hollow working on the castle could hear their conversation. If that could be called a conversation. This wasn't even really an argument and it was long past being a pissing contest from the very start.

"I warned you from the start that far more dangerous things were walking around in the human world than that insect you encountered", Bainne hissed.

"And you sent us over anyway. What was you goal here, to get us both killed? 'Cause that's something you coulda just done yourself and it wouldn't even be an effort!"

"Do not try and make me responsible for your incompetence, boy! If you would have stuck to the plan, none of this would have happened, but no, you just had to let your personal affairs get in the way and now one of us is dead. Not because of me, because of YOU!"

Setsuzo wanted to throw something back, something, anything, but he couldn't, because Bainne was right. Admitting that cut deeper than everything else. He remained silent and just stared at Bainne with every feasible amount of hatred his being could conceive.

"That's what I thought", Bainne continued and turned his back towards Setsuzo. "You're lucky I need you, or else I would just kill you and be done with it."

Setsuzo didn't listen. He just stared at the completely exposed back Bainne had just presented to him on a silver plate. The temptation was there. Oh it was there alright, that sweet window of opportunity he had in front of him. It longed for him, called for him to try. No, it didn't long for him, it mocked him. It didn't call for him, it dared him to try and see what happens. Slowly and silently, he slid out his armblade, clenching his fist so hard he almost cut the inside of his hand.

"Go ahead and try", Bainne said, while standing completely still. "Come on, I know you want it", he whispered. "I can feel your bloodlust. Oh, I can almost smell it."

For a moment there, the lower of the two Hollows stopped. But the temptation was too great and he was beginning to give in. He kept extending his blade until it had reached it's full length and took a step towards his superior. And another one. And another one.

Bainne slowly turned around and a devious grin decorated his face. "Yes", he said almost filled with joy. "Those are the eyes I wanted to see. Not the eyes of a fighter, the eyes of a murderer. Someone who takes lives without remorse. COME ON!", he yelled and extended his arms presenting himself to Setsuzos blade.

"Do you think you can pierce me, do you really think that little knife of yours is drenched in enough hatred? Then show me! Strike me down where I stand. I'm even willing to give you a free shot. But I'm warning you; if you waste it", a sinister chuckle exited his throat that sounded like grinding grovel. "You're gonna regret it."

He was right there. _Right. There._ All he had to do was cut him, slash him to pieces disfigure him into fucking oblivion. But it was a trap. He knew it was a god damn trap. Bainne wouldn't even present himself to a working Hollow this carefree without being absolutely certain that nothing would happen, no matter what. And Setsuzo still didn't care. He would slice this motherfucker in half and if it was the last thing he'd do.

He was gonna do it. Every moment now, he would raise his arm, release all his power and strike down with everything he had.

But then he remembered a voice.

"_You better get those damn memories back and I hope they are worth it."_

What was he doing?

His partner sacrificed himself for him, layed down his life so _he _could live and he was about to throw it all away because of what, a little bit of taunting and self-loathing?

_No. This can't be how I go out. It can't be, it mustn't._

He closed his eyes and deeply inhaled in the effort to calm himself down and slowly retracted his blade. But when he opened them, he knew his eyes were still filled with the same hatred from before.

Bainne let his arms sink down and sighed. "Dissapointing. And here I thought you'd give into it. Guess you're weaker than I thought." He tilted his head slightly to the side and looked like he was thinking about something.

"Or perhaps it's quite the opposite. Maybe you're strong enough not to do it, because despite all your hatred, you want to honor your friends sacrifice?"

Setsuzo scoffed. "You believe in honor?"

"I believe honor and pride are for the foolish and weak. But right here, right now", he said and looked into the distance with a dazed look, as if he was gazing upon something that wasn't there. "It might serve a purpose."

Bainne gestured Setsuzo to follow him, turned around and started walking.

"Say, did I ever tell you how a Gillian is created?"

"No."

"Did Léon tell you something about it?"

"He slightly touched on the subject when we "recruited" him." He put some extra mockery into that word.

Bainne just scoffed amused. "Becoming a Gillian is when the instinct of a Hollow is at its purest. The instinct to devour that is. To create one single Gillian, hundreds of Hollows are required to assemble in one place and slaughter eachother. It's almost something like a festival, or ritual. The assembled Hollows kill and eat and kill and eat until they are reduced to nothing but their bare instincts. Until everything they are is killing to eat and eating to kill."

He stopped, inhaled deeply and just stood there for a few moments until he opened his eyes again and slightly changed his course. Then he kept walking and Setsuzo followed him.

"What follows is a kind of harmony. The Hollows start to resonate with eachother and instead of consuming themselves by flesh, it's then a battle of the spirit itself. It is at that point that you have to work with your mind, and consume the minds of every other Hollow, to crush their wills and make them your own, to absorb their flesh and make it your own and to erase them from existence until you and only you are left, so you can claim everything they were and left as your own."

Bainne's mood changed a little, it had only been a slight nuance, but he somehow seemed… nostalgic. As if he was dwelling on old memories that filled him with exhilarating excitement.

"But you have to be careful. One slip-up and you will get lost in the storm and the end result will be that every Hollow will cease to exist and you will all become a mindless monster. That is the tragic fate of the Gillians under my control that guard the castle. Trapped in a meaningless existence, consisting of nothing but reactions to events happening around them, without free will, agency or anything that would set them apart from a mere puppet."

"Is there a rest stop between now and the fucking point?"

"Yes", Bainne stopped, turned around and looked Setsuzo in the eyes. "As you are now, you can easily do that. The fact that you are oozing with hatred speaks for itself. I promised you I would help you get stronger and I tend to make good on my promises."

Setsuzo got curious and reached out with his senses, just to be immediately overwhelmed by the massive pool of energy right in front of them. Of course. Bainne wanted him to turn into a Gillian right here and now. Beneath their feat was one of those rituals and from the way it felt like it must have already begun. Pain, rage, agony, hunger, Setsuzo felt them all boiling under the surface.

"Are you sure you want to keep that promise?" Setsuzo probably shouldn't say what he was about to say, but he didn't care. He didn't want to live a life where he had to stay quiet, simply nod along to everything that was outside of his power and just go with it. He wanted to be square. He wanted to be outspoken and clear and he would no longer be silent when it came to his intentions and his opinion.

"With everything that happened, I might stab you in the back when I get the chance. You are an Adjuchas now. If you are really trying to help me get stronger, I will turn into a Gillian and it won't take me long from there on out to become an Adjuchas myself. Then we'll be evened out and who knows, maybe I'll take that swing at you then."

Bainne just cackled to that statement. "Oh if it only were that easy. You see, with that power we gain by becoming an Adjuchas, also comes a curse. We have to keep devouring others or else we will regress back into Gillians and lose our individuality. So, even if you made it from a Gillian to an Adjuchas in record time, it would still do you no good against me. By then I will either have become a Vasto Lorde already, or I will no longer be your leader. I don't really have a choice and once you'll be what I am now, neither do you. Not that it matters, because I will soon ascend to the next level, I can feel it."

He suddenly stopped and looked at Setsuzo. "Are you ready to take the next step in evolution? Right here and now, while the fire of hatred still burns in you."

"I don't really have a choice here, do I", Setsuzo responded with a dry attitude.

Bainne grabbed his shoulders and gazed at him. Something changed in his mood again, he was now intense, almost angry.

"No. That is not enough. If you want to do this right now, you need to be more than just "I don't really have a choice here do I". You have to _want_ it. You **_need_** to want it. You need to be more than a depressed school girl about to fail the next exam. You need to be a storm of burning hatred, you need to be a force of nature, an uncompromising raging monster. So when I ask are you ready, what do you say?"

"Just to be clear." Setsuzo got intense himself. "If I ever get stronger than you, if there will ever be an opportunity, if there's ever even the fraction of a chance that you show weakness, I will be there and I will drive my blade through your chest, I can promise you that!"

Bainne didn't respond to the threat. He said nothing to it, he just continued right away, but Setsuzo knew he registered it, remembered it from now on and forever and in return, the look in Bainne's eyes gave him an unspoken promise. It was a challenge to try and do his best and that when he would fail, Bainne would laugh over his rotting corpse. It was the beginning of a race for the other one's life.

"Are! You! Ready!?"

"YES!" Setsuzo yelled at the top of his lungs, his fury was heating his entire body like a burning fire, his Spiritual pressure was rising like never before.

Bainne took his hands off of Setsuzo's shoulders, raised his right to the sky and charged a Cero. At the moment he finished charging it up, he fired the Cero towards the ground, shattering it in the process.

**(Mad Max Fury Road OST: Blood Bag)**

Time was slowing down. It was probably due to his raised Spiritual pressure, because his senses were sharpened like never before. Everything around him seemed slower, or it was probably just him processing things faster. The dust took a few moments to settle, but then he could see everything clearly.

It was a pure hellscape down there. Blood was covering the floor, half eaten corpes were lying around, others were disfigured and most of the Hollows that were down there were all over the place, screaming in pain, in ecstasy, in victory or loss.

Bainne wasn't falling down with him, he was standing in the air, crouching down on his knees, purely spectating. Setsuzo was on his own. Of course he was. He always had been, but he never died from that. And he certainly wouldn't die from it today.

A tree was growing to the ceiling right next to him, so he extended his armblade and rammed it into the crystal fabric to break his fall. Shortly before he reached the bottom he ripped it out and let himself fall on the nearest Hollow, impaling his head and splitting him in half with the additional force of the fall.

He didn't waste any time and consumed his dead opposite with huge chunks, as if he hadn't eaten in days. He wasn't left alone though, as he was rammed into the back and catapulted away from his feast. He grunted in pain, stood up and turned around to see what unlucky bastard he was about to cut up.

And of course it had to be a Hollow double his size and mass, covered in brown fur and with a Body resembling an ape.

His new adversary shouted at him, mocking him for being careless. Setsuzo returned the scream and expressed all the hatred he felt. Then he concentrated all the power he was emitting at the moment into his entire body and let it explode, accelerating his movements and heightening his strength. He sprinted towards the ape, took a huge leap and aimed for the head, but the opposing creature planned to catch him mid-air.

Without compromises, Setsuzo cut the ape's hand in half, landed on his shoulder and buried his blade deep into it. His enemy screamed in pain, but he didn't stop. He twisted the blade and wanted to take it out, but the ape trapped the weapon by tensing up his muscles. Without hesitation, Setsuzo repeated the technique from before, but this time concentrated all of his power into his right arm. He ripped the blade out and a huge chunk of flesh with it. His adversary howled in pain and Setsuzo used that time window to repeat the technique once more.

He cut straight through the neck and beheaded the ape with visceral force. The head landed on the ground with a loud bumping sound and Setsuzo started to dig into the still standing body. He consumed and consumed and felt his power rise, little by little, making him stronger. Faster. Angrier.

There was something about this place. The more he fought, the more he felt himself slip away and become more animalistic.

At some point, he was so furious he stopped eating and just started to hack and slash himself through the still standing body. When he got out of the back, he already spotted his next victim.

A frog as big as he was, which was currently eating the first Hollow he had killed when he had dropped form the ceiling.

"That's mine", he yelled with a raspy voice. He stormed towards the frog and aimed for its legs with his sword. It managed to narrowly evade his attack by jumping up at the very last moment. Setsuzo heard the frog scream in a distorted voice: "Finders keepers!"

It shot its tongue out and missed Setsuzo by mere centimeters. He jumped to the side and was already preparing to jump up as well, but was frozen in place when he heard the tongue impact on the ground with a loud bang. Rockshrapnels flew close by past his body and tempted him to check on the tongue. He saw it being retracted with enormous speed leaving only a hole in the ground.

So it was used more like projectile than anything else.

The frog shot the tongue again, but Setsuzo didn't evade this time. He moved to the side just a bit so the tongue would miss him and waited for the sound of its impact. Every second now it would… BANG! He grabbed the tongue while it didn't have any tension or momentum in it and pulled the frog towards him with all his power. He waited until it got into his range, then he cut it up.

It was just one single strike, but the force of the frogs fall and all the power he could manage created a devastating effect. His muscles howled in pain and he feared they would snap from the enormous exertion. It was a matter of moments but it felt much longer. The body was halved and both parts were falling behind him on the ground with a loud splash sound.

Without hestitation, he began to eat the remains and after five bites he already felt something he hadn't in a long while. His unique passive ability that unlocked new techniques when he had gained enough power. Just a little more and it would be ready to develop another new technique, he could feel it.

He had eaten about half the frog when he suddenly got hit by a surprise attack from behind. "Ah, what now?", he grunted in pain. He took a quick glance at his body and noticed several smaller cut wounds. Then he looked at his next opponent. It was a giant bird Hollow with four wings and sharp looking feathers all over its body.

Feathers that were also sticking in the ground beaneath him, indicating they might have been used as projectiles. The bird screeched and threw another featherattack. Setsuzo needed to get cover behind something, but he was standing wide out in the open. Everything that could provide him with protection was either out of reach or too small.

He didn't even think, he just raised his left arm and instinctively concentrated his Reiryouku into it, until it emitted a shield created from Spiritual energy that was about as big as Setsuzo himself and the same shape as the shield on his arm.

He mesmerized his own creation for a few moments, surprised by what he just did out of pure instinct. He took a step forward to check if the shield was stuck in place. It moved with him. He smiled deviously as he started running towards the bird, which was now in panic to throw its feathers at him, hoping that it would stop him somehow.

When he was almost in striking range, the Hollow was rapidly trying to achieve lift-off, but it was too late. Setsuzo took a leap up, dispelled his shield and landed on the bird's chest. He stabbed it quickly a few times, bringing the creature back to the ground on its back while it was howling in pain. He swiftly cut off its head, but then a tiring sensation overcame him. He took a few moments to realize that he had been constantly releasing and using his Reiatsu and had decreased his Reiryouku to an alarmingy low amount.

He had never exerted imself at full strength in any of his fights before, but this time he had been going at it full force from the start. It hadn't really been a problem since feeding restocked his reserves, but using that shield had taken a lot out of him.

He shut off his constant output and started to devour the giant bird. His reserves quickly filled up again and while licking the fresh blood off his teeth he looked around, to seek out his next victim and found it in a Hollow that looked like a snake.

He released his Reiatsu again and stormed towards the newly spotted adversary. The latter was just finishing up a feast himself and shifted his attention to Setsuzo as he was sprinting towards it. The snake hissed, opened its mouth and spit a violet fluid at him.

He stopped, summoned his new shield and caught the substance on it. He immediately dispelled the shield again and took a few steps back while the fluid splashed on the ground. It hissed and smoked, and a small crater began to build, so it was probably acid.

The snake hissed aggressively and slithered towards him and made Setsuzo realize the enourmous difference in size. The snakes head was almost as big as he himself was but despite its size it was still very fast, as was evident by the alarming pace at which it was coming closer. Setsuzo readied himself for anything, sword and shield extended, Spiritual pressure up.

Shortly before the snake reached him, it spit another flood of acid and darted to the left.

_So it's aiming for a pincer attack._

He reacted quickly and instead of backing away, he jumped towards the snake. He was high enough so that the snake would dive right through under him, and basically presented its neck on a silver platter. Which was an opportunity he couldn't let go to waste. With a twisting motion of his body he attempted to decapitate the snake.

His blade wasn't long enough to even reach the middle of the Hollows neck, so he resorted to a little technique he had been developing the past few months. He laced his blade with Reiatsu and left a thick trace of it in the wound. As soon as he laid it, the trace of Reiatsu exploded in a sense and repeated the wound he had just dealt his opponent, basically eating itself into the flesh.

His opponent sled through under him and he landed on the ground. The snake was now howling in pain, twisting and rearing its head around in the air and for one deadly moment it was distracted from the battlefield. Setsuzo used the moment to his advantage and raced towards it. He repeated the attack from before, this time from below. He succeeded and the snake head fell down on the ground with a heavy bump.

He immediately started eating again. Even if he had managed to come out victorious in all his fights, his opponents got more and more dangerous. This wasn't going to be easy.

ooo

Death. Agony. Pain. Hunger and despair. Oh those feelings that were most prominent in the air during a ritual of becoming a Gillian, it was like music to Bainne, a true symphony to behold.

He had changed a lot since the time he had become a Hollow. As a human, he would have despised his current self for enjoying the suffering and misfortune of others, for almost getting off on it.

Ah yes, his former self, idealistic and all, believing in a world where people lived happily together. His firm belief into god led him to think that that lie was real, to give it life and spread it among his peers.

He had believed. Oh yes, he had always been the one to still have faith, even if everyone else had lost it.

He had been the one to not lose his faith once the first shots had been fired outside the shops. He had been the one to not lose faith when he and his fellow believers had been loaded on the trains. He had been the one to not lose faith when the doors of that cursed institution had come into sight.

He had always been the one to search for another way, something without violence.

Something peaceful.

If he, as he was about 70 years ago, could see himself as he was now; he wondered, what would he say to himself? Would he yell? Or cry? Would he be disappointed? Would he despair, knowing what was lying ahead of him? Would he try to convince his future self that he should not continue to travel down this path? That he could still turn around, atone for his sins and find a way to make up for everything he's done?

He could only speculate. He was sure it would be at least one of the above. But dwelling on the past wouldn't help him.

He needed to focus on the now. And the now was very entertaining at the moment. The boy was uncompromising, mercyless and without hesitation. The first four Hollows had fallen pretty quickly, he had even developed a new technique. One that he was currently messing around with thoroughly.

He was creative and caught on to things quickly, Bainne had to give him that. Considering the fact that he had literally just learned how to use his via Reiatsu projected shield, he was using the ability fairly well. He just finished carving up the snake like Hollow and started to feast on it with a ferocity that took Bainne back once again, to the time he had been on the verge of becoming a Gillian.

He too, had been consumed by hatred and anger, for others as well as himself. Damn it, he let himself be distracted too much. He needed to stay in the here and now.

He didn't know if he had to intervene with something going on down there. The boy had actual potential and it would be a real shame to let that go to waste. Well, that was one side of the story, the other one was that he had pretty much no one to replace him. Raiba wouldn't have really fit the position, but he could have filled the part until somebody more suited for it would have shown up.

Léon was… well, Bainne still didn't know what to make of him yet. He did his part, but it kind of felt like he was the only person doing so voluntarily. He didn't exactly fear Bainne, despite their obvious difference in power and he handled the oversight of the lower Hollows building their base of operations. Although he began to think that the old lion was trying to fool him. Their difference in power was definitively there, but it was aritifical. Léon had been able to fool the Boy, but not Bainne himself. He had realized a while back already that Léon was in fact an Adjuchas himself. Which led Bainne to question his motives.

If he so wanted, he could go and provoke a revolution to throw Bainne over. Well, he could try. Léon may not fear him, but as long as the power-gap existed, Bainne wouldn't really have to worry. And even if Léon would use his full power as an Adjuchas, Bainne still Held the Advantage, he knew that much.

Plus, he was really useful and sometimes pretty wise and forethinking too. Bainne couldn't help but think that he was at least 20 to 30 years older than him. Who knows, maybe he was a war veteran of both world wars. That would explain how he was able to organize and instruct all the other Hollows so well. He could have been a drill seargent or something of the like, he always looked like he was having fun yelling around.

And yet, Bainne couldn't help but feel that trusting him was a mistake, so he wouldn't put him on the post of leader of his army. He didn't really trust Setsuzo either, but the boy was at least predictable. That and he was thinking on his feet most of the time, so he should be able to handle himself.

Looking at the current battle, Bainne had to admit that he was almost impressed. Setsuzo was making quick and precise work of every Hollow he came across. He sometimes let his guard down, but he compensated with his quick thinking and actions.

Bainne sat down on the Reishi particles he had concentrated below his feet to stand on and prepared himself for a few hours of entertainment. If this continued the way it had up to this point, then it would take quite a while until he would need to interfere, if that would be necessary at all.

ooo

Hours had passed since Setsuzo had been (literally) thrown into the battle. Things were even more chaotic now than before, blood was shed left and right, getting some time to eat was almost impossible, he always had to keep his guard up to not be ambushed from behind.

Events were happening incredibly fast now and time to think things over was a luxury he had lost many hours ago, at this point he was just reacting.

Guard, guard, sword strike, evade, project a shield, ram the opponent, dispel the shield, stab, stab, stab, slice up the head, take a few quick bites and evade a surprise attack from behind, facing the next adversary.

He had been exchanging enemys like they were nothing, everything happened too fast. It was either act or die. If he allowed himself even one mistake, it was over.

This was the longest he had ever fought up until now by a long shot and it showed. The difference in strength from the beginning to now was getting rather significant. If he as he was now, would have fought himself as he had been before, he would have crushed himself, even without his new shield ability.

Which, again, was just fucking awesome. Ever since it's first use, Setsuzo had been provided with ample opportunities to test its limits. The shield could stay still in one place, which was useful as a platform to stand on in midair when he needed a quick breather. That had been especially helpful during a fight with a mole type Hollow. Setsuzo was also able to freely manipulate its size and even use it as a projectile.

So in summation, he now had something to ram enemys with, to shield himself, to stand on, to throw like projectiles, it was great.

What wasn't so great however, was that the intensity of each battle grew exponentially with time, because while he got stronger so did his opponents. At the beginning of this battle royal he had been dispatching enemys left and right, never having to waste more than a few seconds to win a fight. Now, he spent several minutes to tire out the Hollow he was currently fighting just so he could create an opening.

Minutes in and on themselves weren't really that long, but given the insane pace of the battle they felt like an eternity. The worst part was that sometimes, it wasn't even a one-on-one anymore. This was Hueco Mundo and there were no fucking rules, especially not during an all out brawl between hundreds of Hollows trying to become the one guy to overpower everybody else around.

And since the one-on-one scenario didn't apply in evey fight, Setsuzo was finding himself in an actual battle royal within a battle royal now. Five people, everyone for themselves with the winner being the last man standing.

To top it all off, every single one of them were either stronger, larger or equipped with better limbs than Setsuzo himself. Just great. His swordarm was throbbing with pain from the constant fighting, numerous small slash wounds on his body from previous fights were still giving off a burning sensation and the muscles in his legs felt like they were about snap if he made one wrong movement too many.

And while all of them were currently at a tense face off to see who'd make the first move, all of his opponents were sideeyeing him with vicious intent. No matter what angle he looked at it from, he was hilariously outmatched.

_If this situation is gonna be drawn out any longer they're all just gonna come at me at once. Might as well take the initiative first then,_ he thought to himself.

**(Mad Max Fury Road OST: Chapter Doof)**

He channeled his Reiryoku into his legs to reinforce them and charged towards the closest enemy, a humanoid looking Hollow thrice his size. He let himself fall on the ground and slashed out the other Hollows tendons as he sled by his feet. Unfortunately for Setsuzo, he couldn't get out of reach fast enough and his opponent managed to grab his shield arm.

The large Hollow fell on his knees no longer able to sustain the weight of his body, but he still kept holding on to Setsuzos arm with an iron grip. An iron grip that was getting stronger every second. Setuszo screamed in agony as his muscles were squashed and even sending his Reiryoku up into it wasn't helping much.

"Motherfucker!", he grunted painfully as he saw his blood running through the fingers of his opponent's limb. In desperation, he switched to attacking and focused all of his energy into his swordarm. He violently shoved it into his opponent's limb repeatedly and managed to finally get free and back away.

The bones weren't broken (yet), but they were definitely fractured and his ripped muscles sent pulsating waves of pain up his arm. He thought he got a moment to catch his breath, only to remember that he had just turned his back to three other Hollows basically waiting for him to do so.

He cussed and turned around only to be greeted by a fist the size of his upper body moments away from making contact. He managed to get his shield arm up in a defensive position, but it was too late for an energy shield. The fist made contact with visceral effect and broke every bone in his arm.

"SHIT!", was all he could yell as he was catapulted backwards through five crystal trees. He rolled around on the ground for a good section before he got back up. Just in time to evade a deadly blow to the face. The enemy passed him with alarming speed and he whirled around to see what he was dealing with.

A ten meter large bull with a humanoid upper body was just circling around to charge at him again. It was probably planning to ram him with full speed this time instead of punching him.

His left arm was completely ruptured and useless now, bones and all. He also no longer felt any pain coming from it anymore, but he was pretty sure that would come back to bite him in the ass with a vengeance later. While he couldn't use his arm to defend anymore, he could still summon shields with it though and this time, the window was long enough. He conjured one up right in front of him and commanded it to stay in place while he backed away from it as fast as he could.

The bull didn't seem to be impressed by the shield and kept running at full speed until he reached the shield… and friggin' _charged through_ the whole thing in one swoop with his head. It robbed him of some momentum, but by far not enough, since the lion kept running his way with a manic fixation on him.

Setsuzo realized that running was not really an option and trying to literally stop his opponent from moving was straight up suicide given what little he had to work with at the moment. The only thing left he could do was attacking. That was, if he could find an opening.

All of that raced through his head in a matter of moments, while the bull was still running at him with full speed, only meters away now. Setsuzo was able to shake the shock off just in time to jump high enough for his attacker to miss. In the same movement, he focused all the power he could bring up into his sword and tried to stab the bulls back, but his attack backfired horribly.

It wasn't just that it had basically no effect, his armblade, which had served him so well in so many battles, straight up _shattered_. Waves of pain erupted from not just the blade itself but his entire arm.

He landed on his feet and immediately fell to the ground, no longer able to concentrate because of the immense pain. Horryfied, he looked at his arm and was hit with an utterly demoralizing realization: he just lost the only thing that made him a threat. His offensive.

He was momentarily shocked out of his paralysis when he heard someone cackle. "You fucking idiot", the bull mocked him. "You could just as well walk right into my mouth and let me eat you."

"Yeah, your cute little furry ass would like that wouldn't you", Setsuzo shot back enraged. The smile disappeared from the bulls face mask and was replaced with a distorted grimace.

"Going down high and mighty instead of like a little whiny bitch will be the only thing you can take solace in before I bite your head off." Instead of running at him on all fours again, the bull stood up and crouched.

"Lookin' forward to it bessy, come on, I'm right here." His cockiness was a bluff of course. No matter how confident he tried to be, the odds were _not_ in his favor. Especially since he didn't know where the other three Hollows were at.

A question that was quickly answered by glancing past the big ass bull for a second. The one whose tendons he had slashed out was currently lying on the ground while the other two devoured him.

Just awesome, really. He does all the work and suddenly everybody else gets a free-meal pass. He was quickly pulled out of his observation though, as the bull jumped high up into the air. After he had reached the peak of his jumps height, he fell down towards Setsuzo in an alarmingly convenient punching angle, so the latter opted to get the hell out of there.

He managed to get out of range just enough to not be hit and backed away to get some distance between him and his enemy. The bull crashed fist first into the ground and put a small crater into it while whirling up a dustcloud. Just moments later, he came running out of it and headed straight for Setsuzo again. And the latter didn't really have a lot of options left. His means of attack were gone, his defense was useless, he was too slow to outrun his opponent and way too weak to compete in a pure battle of strength. The only thing that he did have going for him was his surprisingly vast reserve of Reiryoku.

And as soon as he realized that, he wasted not even a single second more. He concentrated as much as he could into his right arm. Then he waited with nervous anticipation for his opponent to get into his reach. His breath trembled, the blood in his mouth tasted metallic and he was slowly beginning to feel his left arm again, which was, all things considered, awfully shitty timing.

From the looks of it, it seemed like the bull was just charging at him again. And judging by the speed, he wouldn't really stop even after he would have tackled Setsuzo. The latter guessed that his opponent was probably planning to ram him through several trees and boulders to completely break his body.

However, this time it would be Setsuzo who'd benefit from the bull's speed. He waited until the very last moment and let himself fall down. Luckily, he had timed his fall just right as he was now in perfect position to uppercut his enemy and throw him off balance, which he did.

His punch wasn't nearly as effective as he would have wished. However, it did have an effect none the less. The other Hollow toppled a little and actually lost balance, causing him to fall over and roll into a tree himself. He crashed through it and came to a halt.

Enraged, the bull got himself up and yelled: "You little bastard, YOU'RE DEAD!"

"Yeah, tell me something I don't know"; Setsuzo quickly shot back, only causing his foe to be even more pissed off. The latter crouched and took another jump, but this time directly towards Setsuzo. He prepared himself for a similar maneuver and cursed when he had to fall on one knee as he could no longer support his entire weight.

"Fuck, first my arm, now my leg?" He grunted and quickly charged it with Reiryoku to try and get it moving again. This time it was almost too late for him to jump out of the way, but he still somehow pulled it off. He redistributed all the energy he could muster into his right arm again and aimed for one of the bull's legs this time. He hit it right in the knee as it was flying past him and got the opposing Hollow off balance in mid-air this time. And yet, there was still no significant damage.

The other Hollow fell to the ground, but this time he was prepared and got right back up. He buried one of his arms in the ground and came to a sliding halt.  
"Alright, I've had it with you. Prepare to meet your maker, little shithead."

Before Sestuzo could reply something, he was stopped dead in his tracks. A wave of Spiritual pressure hit him ice cold and for a few moments he was paralyzed. His opponent was flexing his own Spiritual pressure and was probably maxing the output at the moment.

And for a very brief period of time, Setsuzo was actually scared. Until he remembered all the other times he had faced an opponent immeasurably stronger than him. Bainne. The dark skinned human with the unexplainable powers and of course… him. The Shinigami.

Fear turned into anger and desperation. The bull like Hollow charged to another jump and sped up full force right towards Setsuzo. Meanwhile, the latter focused every little bit of feasible energy he could conjure up into his right arm. He remembered why he had agreed to get thrown down here in the first place.

Power.

Power to survive, power to avenge, power to kill, it didn't matter to him. All he wanted in this very moment was just… more… **POWER.**

And then, something awakened within him. He was at his limit. There was no ounce of energy left in him to gather up, but somehow he still kept going and concentrated everything he had more and more until it became too dense to further compress.

The Hollow came flying towards him with sheer immeasurable speed. Setsuzo waited until the very last second to unleash his final attempt at staying alive. The bull was right in front of him. Setsuzo punched him in the face…

And shattered his entire head.

With a sharp splashing sound, the bulls whole upper body fucking _exploded_ and sent bones, blood and ripped apart flesh flying in every direction. It shocked Setsuzo out of his enraged, fevery state and introduced some clarity back into his mind. Surprised and confused, he noticed two very obvious things that made no damn sense.

He was alive and the bull was dead. How was that even possible? He was barely able to stand, his sword broke, his left arm was so useless at the moment it might as well have been non-existent, his body was already beyond it's limit, so what the fuck just happened?

Still utterly baffled, he looked from the one whole half of the body to his right arm and was surprised by what he saw. His arm was engulfed by a pitch-black aura that moved like it was a flickering fire, but did that so slowly it might have been mistaken for looking like flowing water.

"Whaaaaaaat the hell", he whispered to himself. He suddenly lost his focus and the energy he had been holding together simply vanished. "Well that's new", he murmured. He directed his attention towards the still intact half of the lions body and noticed that the Reiryouku inside it slowly separated itself from the flesh and into the air. He stumbled towards the lower bodyhalf and, out of pure instinct, reached for the dispersing Reiryouku with his own. What he needed right now was not just the flesh of his enemys, but also their literal energy. The latter more than the former.

He was able to hold on the energy with his own and drew it towards himself. It felt almost as if he was pulling on a bedsheet. Power was flowing through his body and gave him a fair share of energy back. He then took a quick look around and checked the area to see if he could take a few moments. The area seemed clear, so he closed his eyes and took a deep breath to make use of a supplementary ability almost all Hollows possessed: high-speed regeneration.

Or in his case, simply regeneration. For some reason, his ability to use this technique had never been as strong as it was for other Hollows. While they could just use it on a whim even if they still needed a few moments to activate it, he needed longer than that. And even then, the process was never as potent.

Slowly and steadily, he could feel the flesh and bones in his arm relax and heal and the pain began to subside second after second. After a while, the pain decreased to an acceptable level. He opened his eyes and slowly moved his arm and fingers to check his newly regained musclemass. So far, so good.

Then he shifted his focus towards his legs and began to heal whatever damage they had suffered. Appearantly, a few muscles had ripped due to overexertion. But just like with his arm, he only healed what was necessary, he couldn't afford to waste energy. Judging by the tension in the air and the remaining combatants, the ritual was about to near its end.

And he had no idea how close that end actually was.

Shortly after he finished healing himself, he suddenly felt a small tug at his body. It wasn't a limb or even an attack for that matter. It felt more like a gravitational force pulling him towards a certain point and it became stronger by the second. But the actually terrifying part followed only seconds later.

His body began to _liquefy_ out of nowhere. It didn't cause him any pain, he didn't even feel any of what happened to him, he merely saw it and that was already enough. But he wasn't the only one. The same thing happened to every single Hollow that was still alive and kicking. They were all pulled towards the center of the gravitation, a black mass that was growing with each Hollow it absorbed.

Then the next thing happened and something began to pull at Setsuzos mind, the same way it was pulling at his body. He tried to fight it, but the feeling was just… overwhelming.

His mind was slowly infected by a serene sense of peace, the sensation that everything would soon be okay, because nothing would matter anymore.

"_It's alright…"_, a voice spoke to him in his head. _"Let go… become part of a greater whole."_

"_But…"_ He tried to focus his mind mind, but everything was so pleasant, he couldn't gather a single thought.

"_But that would mean…" _His control was slipping away.

"_That would mean I'd… die." _He halted and repeated that thought.

_I'd die. I don't want to die._

"_Don't fight back…"_ The voice kept speaking to him, getting more aggressive with time, almost trying to force him to submit.

…_I don't want to die…_, he thought to himself again.

_I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't. Want. To. Die…_

And then, for the third time in this fight, something deep within him awakened.

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" He yelled the words aloud, as if it was a mantra that would give him strength. He focused on the pull on his mind and fought against it. A strange sensation suddenly clouded his mind. Was that… confusion? But it wasn't his own, it was coming from an outside source, it was coming from… the pull.

Out of sheer willpower he pulled back, mentally grabbed the pull and ripped it and everything attached to it towards him. At first, he felt resistance, then he felt anger and lastly after a while of relentless tugging on his part, he felt… fear.

He gave it everything he had, kicked into overdrive and violently tore everything he could mentally grab a hold of towards him and began to sense the presence of several other consciousnesses around him. They were flowing towards him, losing what made them feel different and, for a lack of better term, added to his psychological mass.

After each mind he consumed, he felt more powerful. The stronger he grew, the faster he pulled and soon, he sucked up every remaining consciousness and was left alone.

The last thing he felt was visceral triumph, then everything disappeared and faded into… darkness.

ooo

The 1st divison grounds, the squad grounds of the captain-commander of the Gotei thirteen. And inside one of the buildings that belonged to those grounds was the office hall of the captain-commander.

Which was empty, as per usual.

Instead of spending his time doing boring paperwork, Shunsui Kyouraku preferred taking long and peaceful naps on the roof of his office. Shunsui savored every last second he could get on a beautiful day in the sun. He also savored every last drop of sake he occasionally (always) took with him up on that roof. He had two very capable vice-captains to do the administratory work for him, so he didn't see any gain in interfering with their work.

No, he'd rather spend the day procrastinating in the sun, especially in peaceful times like these. His flower haori was laying on the tiles as a blanket while his straw hat covered his face in shadow.

His peace wouldn't last long on this day though, as a member of the messenger squad appeared next to him via Shunpo.

"Captain-commander, sir", the Shingami reported.

"Yes?", Shunsui answered in a relaxed attitude while not moving a centimeter from his comfortable position.

"Sir, captain Mayuri has given me the order to inform you over new data he recorded in regards to the lower districts in west Rukongai. According to his report, he has detected faint signs of Hollow Reiatsu in the vicinity. Additionally, he says that the village is surrounded by a special kind of field."

Shunsui slightly groaned and removed his hat to sit up. "Inform all the captains. They are to immediately report to me in the councel room. Tell captain Mayuri to send me his findings. Dismissed."

"Sir", the messenger said and disappeared. Shunsui got on his feet and set his eyes onto the horizon. "Ah, what a shame", he sighed in his signature melancholic manner. "And today was going to be such a beautiful sunset."

He smiled in nostalgia. "Four years and there's already a strange incident again. I bet Yama-jii would be pretty upset by now."

**Author's notes:**

YES! Finally. God, this chapter was a nightmare. I wrote this all the way back in belgium and about 2 months ago or so I re-read it, only to find out that, uhm, I can't write a fightscence if my life depended on it. Honestly, the first draft of the Gillian ritual was so bad, it wasn't even funny anymore, it was just sad. I rewrote large sections of it to be more focused and less dragging and that last third was rewritten from scratch. I think I've been able to upgrade it from seizure inducing to decent, so that's a... win? Anyway, the rewrite and constant back and forth between this chapter and the newest one I'm writing really stunted my progress on this story, so uhm... here's hoping that doesn't happen too often.

Onto the actual chapter though:

Yeah, Setsuzo learns pretty fast in this one, but to be fair, he's in a situation of extreme stress, it's either git gud or get wrecked son. I'm also pretty stoked to develop the dynamic between him and Bainne. I've got some fun stuff up my sleeve for that.

Other than that I don't really have a lot to say. Except for the fact that the whole Gillian thing was never explained in full detail, so I kinda put my spin on things and I hope you liked it.

As always, I welcome reviews and encourage them. Or, you know, PM me if you want to tell me something personally, I welcome that too.


	20. Chapter 19

(I don't own Bleach, which, by the way, IS COMING BACK BABY! But more on that in the notes down below)

* * *

Chapter 19: Weird occurences

"Alright", Shunsui Kyorakus voice sounded through the gathering hall of the captains, "now that we're all so nicely assembled here, let us commence our emergency meeting."

"Would it be possible to take care of this matter as quickly as possible?", captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi uttered. "I had to break off a rather extensive matter for this and I'd appreciate if I could get back to it swiftly."

"All in due time captain Kurotsuchi", the captain commander said. "Now, I didn't just gather you for a simple tea party, there is a rather serious matter at hand; we've detected the intrusion of Hollows into Soul Society."

"Remnants of Aizens army?", captain Soifon instantly theorized.

"No", captain Kurotsuchi answered in Shunsui's stead, "the signature was too feint and devoid of Shinigami Reiatsu. It definitely is Hollows we are dealing with, the data has been very definitive about that."

"So what you're saying", captain Kuchiki took part in the conversation, "is that what we are dealing with is not an invasion, but a simple intrusion?"

"That is correct", captain Kurotsuchi answered.

"Then I suggest we send reconnaisence immediately", captain Kuchiki concluded.

"Reconnaisence?", captain Soifon asked in slight disbelief. "Don't you think that is a bit too lenient?"

"What exactly is it that you are trying to say?", captain Kuchiki countered.

"Exactly what I've said. It's too lax of a measurement to take after everything we've had to endure in the last few years. Aizen betrayed us and would have almost realized his plans if it wouldn't have been for Ichigo Kurosaki. Juha Bach invaded Soul Society and attacked our forces like it was nothing and killed several of our people in the process. We were not prepared for any of these threats, and now, four and a half years later, we actually have confirmation of imminent danger, no matter how small it is, and you want to react to it with reconnaisence?"

Captain Kuchiki wanted to retort to that, but captain Hirako was faster with his reply. "Exactly that's what we should do. Soul Society's enjoyed peace for centuries and now in the span of a couple years, the world was standin' on the brink of collapse. Twice. If we send out a huge amount of troops to a single place, then the general populous could get a bit unruly don't ya think? We need to think about the safety of Soul Society, but we also need ta let it appear as though peace is intact, you feel me?"

"It's like captain Hirako says", Shunsui quickly intervened. "The Shinigami under our command and the people of Rukongai need to think that peace continues to be the same it was for the last couple years. Captain Soifon, deploy a small team from the Onmitsukido and report to me when you're ready. We'll send them to the designated location and wait upon their return to form a strategy with the knowledge they've collected. Any questions so far?"

Nobody said anything.

"Then todays meeting is concluded."

ooo

"Are you for real?"; was Kiara's first reaction to the situation she was just presented with.

"I don't like repeatin' meself, girl. Draw yer toy and try to hit me with it", was the rough answer she got.

It was early in the morning, she had just been thrown out of bed for breakfast and right after that the crazy old wolfman was telling her to attack him now. With a real blade.

"Wha's wrong with ya, yesterday ye weren't so coy with drawin' the damned thing."

"Yeah, no it's just- isn't that dangerous?"

Ousai just put on a confused face. "Like I said: yesterday ye weren't so damn coy with drawin' the damned thing."

"Well, that's because I thought we'd be ambushed by somebody. Using it against someone I know is- it makes me a bit nervous."

Ousai raised an eyebrow and looked over at Makoto's direction. The latter caught up on it, studied the wolfman's face for a few seconds and then answered the unspoken question with a sigh.

"No, she's never actually fought with it."

"Are ye shittin' me boy?"

"Do I look like it? I've been switching back and forth between her and district 80 and was only ever able to oversee her progress and give her according goals for the next time I got back. Besides, do you honestly think she's had any opportunity to test herself with a real sword? Even the captain of the 11th fights with bokken inside Seireitei when he's not slicing up an intruder or something like that."

Ousai shook his head. "Well, first time's gonna be sometime, better now than somewhere on the actual field."

"I actually used it once", she said.

He turned around to Kiara. "Ah yeah, when's that?"

"I fought a training doll about 3 weeks ago with it, when I was training with vice-"

"Training doll's one thing, livin' person's another. Did ya ever do 'at?"

"Only sheathed", she confessed.

"Then this is yer actual first time." He impatiently signaled her to come at him.

"Aren't you gonna defend yourelf with a sword too?"

"I don' even need a bloody sword against that one over there, ye think I need one 'gainst you? No offense, but ye can't even chip off one lousy hair from me fur."

"Can I take that as a challenge?"

"If that's what it takes to get ya movin'."

Kiara wanted to retort something, but then decided not to at the last moment. Talking about it any further would just piss the old man off. So, she opted to just roll with it. If he was really able to hold his own against Makoto, someone who went toe to toe with some of division 11's finest, then she really wouldn't have to worry about hurting the old wolfman. Right?

Only one way to find out. She drew her Zanpakutou and took her stance. It was a weird sensation to grip the handle of a real sword and point it at a real person of flesh and blood.

A wooden sword was one thing, if you got hit by one of those the worst thing that could happen were bruises and broken bones, nothing that the healing Kido from the 4th division couldn't fix (bless these people for merely even existing and doing what they do).

Her own sword however was a different matter entirely. It weighed heavier in her arms, the grip was different because of the fabric around it, it even sounded different already from just drawing it out of its sheath.

The sunlight was reflected by the blade, casting a white shadow on the ground. Her right hand pressed against the rhombus shaped guard as she tried to get a cool head by controlling her breathing. Her feet were slowly moving over the ground, getting in an ideal position to charge at him.

And then she did.

They weren't too far apart, so she reached him pretty quickly and aimed at his upper body with a slash from above. Just as her blade was about to connect, Ousai evaded it by simply stepping to the side.

She attempted another attack, this time from bottom to top, only to be greeted by the same result.

She attacked again. And again. And again. She tried several different approaches, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, top to bottom, left to right and the other way around, but no matter how well executed her moves were, Ousai evaded them with such ease, one could almost think he was bored.

"Why don' ya try it with a little more juice behind it?", he casually asked after a while.

She stopped and looked at him confused. "What?"

"Give it a lil' more effort."

"I'm already giving it as much as I can." He made a face again, looked over to Makoto and left her unsure if that was meant for her or him. Probably both.

"Nope, that she knows", Makoto said, again without actually being asked a question. "Might wanna work on your articulation, people who didn't grow up under your care get easily confused by it." Ousai just scoffed, while Makoto looked to Kiara. "He means use your Reiatsu to fire up your moves."

"But you said to not use it against other people", she said.

"He's an exception. He wasn't really kidding about not needing a sword against me. Even as I am now, I think he'd hold his own. Well, up to a certain point, then I'd mop the floor with him", he added with a smug grin on his face.

"Careful boy, or we might test that one later", Ousai said and turned around to Kiara again.

She wanted to discuss it more, since using a combination of a sharp sword and released Spiritual pressure against somebody she didn' want to hurt sounded like a pretty fucking terrible idea, but once again decided to shut up and roll with it. Something told her that the two mentor figures in front of her knew what they were doing, given the slightly disinterested face of her mentor and the completely relaxed one of his fosterfather.

_Well, here goes nothing._

She closed her eyes and concentrated. Imagining the pool, the branches flowing from it and releasing her power in a burst. Then she regulated the flow to a moderate pace and took her stance again. He wasn't too far away, she didn't even have to take one full step to reach him, so it didn't seem impossible to land a hit. All she could do was give it a shot.

She moved quickly, trying to surprise him in the effort, but he simply evaded just as relaxed as before. This time though, Kiaras senses were heightened, so she could somewhat see the whole process and it was weird as hell.

Somehow, before she had even raised her sword, the old man had already started moving out of striking range. She was still swinging out and he was already standing still again.

Was it just a trick? She tried again, only to see the same thing happening again and now she was certain.

_He's evading my attack before I can even start it._

God, just thinking that sounded strange, but it was a fact.

"Ye look confused. Wanna know a lil' secret?", the old wolfman said smiling. "I can read yer mind", he continued ominously after a few moments. "Don' believe me?", he said amused, probably because she made a disbelieving grimace to that comment.

"For example", he said and raised his finger like a teacher. She tried to catch him off guard while he was monologuing and attempted another surprise attack from above.

"Yer next attack will be from above", he said right before she was about to wind up. She heard what he said, but she was moving too quickly, so she only fully registered it after she had already attempted the slash.

This had to be coincidence. Lucky guessing or something of the sort. But luck always runs out eventually, so she tried again, from the right this time.

"From yer right to the left", he said while already evading.

She tried again and again, while he predicted right every single time and was already stepping out of striking range before she had even wound up or was just in the process of doing so.

"How are you doing that?", she asked genuinely curious.

"I told you already, didn' I? I can read yer mind."

"Bullshit", Makoto yelled while sitting above the cave entrance (when the hell did he even get up there?).

"Shut up boy, let me have me fun", the old wolfman growled to which Makoto snickered like a little boy that just got away with a prank.

"… so you can't read minds?", Kiara carefully concluded. Makoto's snickering slowly became a faint laughter that instantly died down once Ousai glared in his direction, but his smile remained.

The fosterfather turned to her again, picked up a stone on the ground and said: "Why don't you try to find out?"

"Ok, what am I thinking of right now?"; she instantly shot out and for the first time it looked like she had caught him off guard. An awkward silence became appearant that got drawn out longer and longer until Makoto burst out in howling laughter, to which Ousai, without even looking at him around, flicked the stone he had picked up over his shoulder and hit Makoto_ straight in the head _over a distance of about_ 15 meters _holy shit how was that even possible?

"Ok, I deserve that", the latter groaned from over the cave and rubbed his head.

"How did you do _that_?", Kiara asked amazed this time.

"Why don't you try to find out?", Ousai said again, this time with a menacing undertone. Something told Kiara once again that this was not a person to be fucked with and nobody should even attempt to try. Well, she guessed that was a conclusion everybody would draw after they had seen as much of the man as she had.

Except maybe Makoto, but he knew Ousai for a very long time and probably got past the untouchable aura that people like the old wolfman emitted, especially as his fosterson.

She quickly went over her options and what she knew to figure out how to continue. Her opponent had evaded her every move up until now, and while she wasn't sure whether he could or could not read minds, she was willing to throw that idea out the window, given Makoto's comment and Ousai's reaction to it. He could do _something_ that was for sure, but he couldn't read minds.

She had no idea how he had managed it, but somehow he had known exactly where Makoto had been sitting. Maybe it was some kind of heightened senses, like enhanced hearing, or a keen sense of smell (he was part wolf. She felt kinda racist to include that bit just based on his looks, but it wasn't that far-fetched). However, that didn't explain how he was able to successfully predict her every attack up until now. Maybe she'd know if she could pressure him a bit more, but to do that she'd have to raise her Spiritual pressure.

Actually, why the hell not? She had been encouraged by both Ousai and Makoto to use her Reiatsu, but never to what extent. Makoto himself admitted that the old wolfman didn't need a sword against him, so he had to be pretty strong. There was no harm in giving it more power than she was at the moment, right? She took stance and tripled her initial output. She emitted a tiny shockwave while doing so and could have sworn to have seen a little twitch on Ousai's lips.

She wasted no time and attacked him once again. And this time, saw something even weirder than before. With her heightened senses, she was able to perceive his movements much better and process them a lot faster now. And she wasn't quite sure how to feel about what she saw. Everything from before was still there.

He started moving before she had even raised her sword, even if it looked like she'd reach him, she never actually did and no matter how close she got. Now though, when she was performing an exceptionally fast sword strike, it looked like no matter how fast she'd go, she never closed the distance between her blade and his body. They were both moving at the same speed, at least until he was barely out of range.

It didn't really annoy her until she realized that he was mocking her. Normally, moving as little as possible to conserve energy was a pretty good strategy. He was just doing it out of boredom though. She could tell from his body language and facial expression that he was legit not moving more than absolutely required. It pissed her off to be taken lightly once again and she would not stand for it.

She raised her output even more and let her attacks become more aggressive, but no matter how hard she tried, she still couldn't reach him. Suddenly, as she was rushing towards him, instead of moving away he moved towards her, using her velocity to trip Kiara.

Luckily, she was able to avoid falling down face first, but it still hurt, especially since it was actual ground. She never thought this day would come, but right now, she missed the dojo a little. She grunted and got up.

"Anger clouds yer judgement. Never let that happen. 'S not a bad thing ta use in a fight, but ya have to be able to focus it, otherwise it's wasted energy."

"Well, it's kind of hard not to get frustrated when you keep evading all of my attacks with that bored ass attitude. How do you even know when and how I'm going to do one anyway?"

Makoto suddenly appeared next to her. Friggin' shunpo. It was cool as hell, but him constantly using it like that in her presence kind of made her like it slightly less.

"Don't ya dare boy", the old wolfman threatened before Makoto had even opened his mouth.

"I wasn't gonna say anything", he responded slighty offended.

"Yeah ye were. Why else'd ya get down here?"

Makoto raised his finger and was about to say something, but stopped himself halfway through. He did the same thing for about two times before saying: "Alright, guilty as charged."

"Ya know, since yer gonna tell her anyway as soon as I'm not around, don' even try to deny it", Ousai said and pointed at Makoto accusingly. The latter just shrugged his shoulders and nodded. "We're gonna make this a lil' game."

Both of the younger Shinigami's skeptically raised an eyebrow. "A game? Seriously?", Makoto asked.

"Yer getting' awefully sassy boy. Yes, a game. A guessin' game to be exact."

"I'm not sassing, I'm just surprised."

"Well, it sounds sassy."

"Who me?"

"Yes smartass, you."

"Like I said, I'm not sassing."

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm not"

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"Yeah you are", Kiara joined.

"You stay out of this", both said at the same. Kiara just snickered. The fight? That was tense yeah, but this? This was pure gold. From one moment to the other, the imposing menacing wolfman went from wise teacher to being to a father again in a split second, the same with Makoto who went from a cool smartass to being a son again and it was just so fun to watch.

"What's so funny?", both of them asked simultaneously again.

"Nothing, it's nothing. So how do we play this game?", she asked and tried to keep it together, but still couldn't surpress a chuckle.

Ousai eyed her suspiciously, but dropped it. "It's a guessin' game, how do ya think we play?"

"Actually, "guessing game" leaves a lot for interpretation there", she answered in an upbeat tone, not unlike Makoto whenever he reacted to one of her comments or questions like a jackass. "For example: do I guess and you just nod or shake your head and we keep doing it until I'm right? Do you ask vague questions to help me figure this out and kind of lead me on the right trail? Are you going to give me hints by showing me objects? Uhh, if it's that last one can it be like a sharade? Please say it's gonna be a sharade."

Ousai said nothing. He was completely silent and just shifted his head towards Makoto very slowly, while widening his eyes and putting on an accusing expression.

"What?", the latter asked confused. No reaction. "What?", he asked again, throwing his hands in the air. Ousai just raised his arm and energetically pointed to Kiara.

"Oh don't try to shift this on me I- ok you know what I'm kind of gonna have to take the blame on this one, you're right, I'm a bad influence", he said and changed demeanors mid-sentence from being offended to being plainly honest.

"Please don' tell me that this'll get worse", Ousai said with a pained voice.

"Nope, this is new actually, at least to this extent. I'll keep an eye on it."

"Ya better do more than just "keep an eye on it". One of ye is enough, I don' need two smartasses around me."

"Hey I'm not so bad."

"I don' know, might get a different opinion on that when I ask yer teachers from the academy."

"Oh please, I partially blew their school to smithereens, of course _they_ would theoretically have a reason to resent me a little", Makoto said with an innocent demeanor.

"…yer doin' this on purpose."

"I have absolutely no idea what you could be talking about", the foster-son answered and smirked. Kiara felt like simply watching these two interact was something she never thought she wanted until she received it.

Ousai shook his head and sighed. Kiara could tell just by looking at him that he had experience when it came to handling Makoto, because he immediately dropped the subject and focused on what was important again.

"A'ight girl, let's get this going. I'll be helpin' ye on the way with questions to spark yer thoughts a bit. And no before you ask, 's not gonna be a sharade. Seriously, ask me the question again and I'll shave yer head."

That threat was loud and clear. She was actually going to ask if it would be possible to make it a sharade anyway, but given Ousai's reaction, she was able to stop herself just before it would have gone critical. She understood why Makoto enjoyed being a lighthearted jackass in certain situations, hence the reason why she did it too. But her hair was where she drew the line.

So she just kept quiet and said nothing, while Makoto once again couldn't stop himself from snickering.

Ousai ignored it and continued to speak with Kiara.

"Let's start with what ya know. What can ya recall from our battle?"

"I never landed a single hit", she answered quickly. That one was as easy as it was frustrating.

"Why did ye never land a single hit?"

"Because you evaded every single one of them."

"Now how did I do 'at?"

"Because you can read my mind, but somehow you can't. You can't predict what I think, but you can predict how I move."

"What do ya want ta say with that?"

"You can't look inside my head but you can read my body I guess? I thought you were just good at guessing things out of thin air, but halfway through I was pretty sure you can read my mind, until Makoto couldn't keep his mouth shut."

"I hear somebody wants extra dojo hours", Makoto's voice resounded from somewhere above the cave again (when did he get up there so fast again without anybody noticing?).

"Until Makoto kindly tried to help me with a hint", she quickly corrected herself, to which she received a chuckle from Ousai. "It just confused me more though", she continued. "If you couldn't read my mind, how can you still predict my movements?"

"Define what ya mean with me readin' yer body", the wolfman said and picked up another stone.

"You know old man, that would sound pretty wrong out of context", Makoto said and as on cue another stone was flicked towards his head, this time with considerably more strength. Even though Makoto managed to catch it, his hand was slammed into his forehead.

Without a care in the world, Ousai gestured her to continue and she tried the best she could, but she couldn't entirely ignore her half groaning and half laughing mentor about 15 meters away. She figured that this was just one of the ways these two showed affection to eachother.

"Maybe you can read my stance and predict what I do from that?"

"Close but not really. Ya can do better than 'at, go at it with a bit more creativity."

She gave it some thought and tried to think more outside the box, add factors she hadn't been told and came up with a few ideas.

"Can you predict it because you can read my Reiatsu?"

"No."

"Can you see the future?"

"Hard pass, don' wanna have ta carry that burden."

"Can you feel the vibrations on the ground when I shift my feet or tense my muscles and the earth then tells you what I do because your abilitys are actually earth related?"

"Ok, now yer getting' a lil' too creative there. What would even let ya think my abilitys were earth related?"

"You threw those two rocks with pinpoint accuracy at Makoto's head."

"Through one me abilitys yeah, but not 'cause they're earth related. Tone down the imagination just a smidge, yer getting' on the right track."

"Does it have anything to do with your five senses?", she instantly shot out.

"No."

"What kind of technique is it?"

Ousai slightly smirked to that question. "Be more specific." He sounded demanding, but in a positive way, like a teacher trying to challenge his student.

"Is it a special type of ability? Does it have an activation time, a range limit or a time limit?"

"You could say so, no, sort of and no."

No activation time. So he could either use it whenever he wanted to on a whim, or he was using it all the time. The missing time limit also indicated that he was using it constantly. The range limit was a little confusing. Sort of? What did that mean? Would it sometimes, but other times not have a range limit? Or was it maybe adaptable to the environement? Or maybe Ousai himself decided on the range he wanted it to have.

Suddenly, she had an idea.

"Are you using it right now?"

"Yes."

"What range does it currently have?"

Another smirk. She was moving into the right direction, that much was for sure.

"I'd say 'bout 16 or 17 meters."

"Can you manipulate that range at will?"

"Yes."

"Is it a sphere like ability?", she asked.

"What do ye mean with sphere?", he countered.

"Is everything you can do inside an invisible sphere? Kind of like a force field?"

"Mostly correct, keep goin'."

She took a few mometns to process all the new information. Adaptable range at will. Similar to a force field. He was using it at the moment. His current range reached a bit further than where Makoto was sitting.

She had another idea. She looked around and searched for a fruit tree or a berry bush in close vicinity. She found a tree and chose a very significant branch. Then she pointed to it.

"Without looking at it, tell me, what exactly am I pointing at?"

"A branch." The answer was fast, he didn't even have to think about it.

She glanced on the very top of the cave and saw a few sparrows on top of it, four to be exact. And they seemed just about out of his range.

"How many birds are sitting on top of your cave?", she asked tense with anticipation.

This time it was a full on smile when he answered. "I don't know."

"You have some kind of awareness field", she immediately concluded. He clapped his hands and whistled.

"Not bad girl, not bad. Ye figured it out. But how does that help you figuring out how I evaded all of yer blows? Just knowin' where things are doesn't help me predictin' shit."

Kiara wanted to shoot back with something, but he was 100 percent correct. Even after thinking about it for a longer amount of time didn't help, she just couldn't think of anything.

"You got me in a box here", she finally admitted.

Ousai raised an eyebrow and exhaled a little. "Shame, ye were on such a good track." He looked like he wanted to say something else but suddenly stopped in confusion. Then he turned around and directed his gaze to where Makoto was sitting- correction, to where Makoto _had_ been sitting (the way he just moved around without anybody noticing was starting to get a bit unsettling).

Ousai closed his eyes for a second, probably to widen the range of his awareness field. After a few moments he opened them again put his hands to his mouth and yelled: "Boooy!"

"Whaaaaaaat?", the answer resounded from somewhere in the forest to Kiara's left.

"Get over here!", Ousai yelled. Moments after, Makoto appeared next to Kiara (and freaked her out again).

"Gah, seriously, stop that", she complained.

"Not as long as it'll be funny", he snickered.

"It's not."

"It is to me. What is it old man?", he quickly added before Kiara could continue the argument.

"Ya can spill the beans if ya want to."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"But just a second ago you were completely against it."

"I know, but she hit a roadblock and if I help her any more than I already did, I might as well tell her meself. Also, ya always had a good way of explainin' it. So there ya go."

"Kinda takes away from the fun a bit if you just let me, but ok. His predictions", he said and turned towards Kiara, "are a combination of his awareness field, or omniscience as I like to call it, and very educated guesses." He sat down. "With said omniscience-"

"Awareness field."

"Not calling it that, jiji. Anyway", he continued, "with said omniscience, he gets something similar to a sixth sense. What you said earlier about him feeling the tensing of your muscles was actually a pretty good assumption. See, dear old jiji over here", he said and nodded to Ousai, "was once an instructor for Kenjutsu. As such, he knows almost every stance there is to know and every move you can do from those stances. So let's just assume you take the basic kendo stance and you plan to use a strike from above. To do that, you have to wind up first and right before you do that, your muscles start tensing in a certain way. Through his field, he can tell and just "predicts" the attack that would make the most sense. That's why he only ever says what you're going to do _just_ after you started performing the action."

Kiara said nothing for a few seconds, then looked over to Ousai and asked: "Okay, so how do I learn that?"

Ousai burst out in laughter. "Ya really think ya can just learn somethin' like that? It took me years ta develop and perfect the technique. It wouldn't even do ya any good right now, yer too slow."

"You know, that kinda hurts, but fair. I'd still like to learn it though, then I'd at least be more prepared for jackasses sneaking up on me." Makoto snickered.

Ousai looked at Kiara for a moment. "It's not like I can't teach ya, it's just that you'll never learn it in the remaining time yer here. Yer leavin' again tomorrow mornin', right?", he asked now talking to Makoto.

"That was the plan. You could still try to teach her the basics though. Maybe she'll get with 'em"

Ousai nodded and simultaneously shrugged his shoulders, then he turned to Kiara. "Alright girl, listen up, here's how it works."

ooo

Makoto and Ousai-jiji were sitting on the top of the small rock plateau, a safe distance away from the girl that was practicing the basic basics of a technique she could not possibly learn right now, so that she wouldn't accidentally overhear their conversation. The training fight had demanded a good portion of the day and the sun was already beginning to set.

"Boy, ya need ta tell her. The truth and I mean the whole truth."

"I know, I know. I will eventually, I just… not now. She's just started to settle in, probably made some friends and acclimated to her new life. I can't just shatter her whole world view by telling her that the person who's sticking his neck out most for her is doing it out of guilt and not because he cares. Not until she has really settled in and can live without having to depend on me."

"I think yer past the point where ya're just doin' it out of guilt. I've seen the way ya interact with eachother, 's almost as if ya had a sibling."

"You're right", Makoto said with an approving, but heavy nod. "But she won't see it that way. You know how these things go. If I tell her "I didn't care at first, but I do now" it'll only make things worse, because then it would look like I'm trying to make excuses. And by the way, that's becoming a problem."

"What, the fact that ya care?"

"Exactly. I'm responsible for her death, I practically stole her entire life. I know I don't have the right to just talk to her much less tease her the way I do."

Ousai-jiji stared off into the distance. "Then why do ya still do it?"

Makoto sighed. "I don't know. Maybe because I'm hoping to give her something back that she might have had before."

"And what's that?"

"A sense of family I guess", Makoto sighed heavily.

"… by being a Jackass ta her?"

"We both know I've never been the best with social interaction. I'm good when it comes to annoying people, but we both know I'm not the best when it comes to showing actual affection."

"Maybe devote a little more time ta her than just showin' up and leavin' again."

"Yeah", Makoto said a little unnerved. "Maybe."

Ousai-jiji rolled his eyes. "Conversation for another time. Getting' back to what matters though: The longer you wait with tellin' her, the more damage ya'll do."

"I know."

"Then what are ya waitin' for?"

"The right moment I guess?", Makoto said a little insecure.

He had never talked about this with anybody, not even with Susanoo. Talking about it now made him more uncomfortable than he would have liked to admit. Just thinking about Kiara's horryfied face when learning the truth turned his stomach inside out. He didn't want to tell her. He couldn't bring it over himself and yet he knew he had to.

"Boy, the right moment will never come. If there's one thing I've learned in me entire life, it's that there's no right moment. If ya're really waitin' for that, ya'll wait until it's too late and ya never tell her, which'll break you. Or worse, she'll find out herself somehow and then what?"

"Don't spark my imagination, please. I've got enough what-if scenarios in my head already." Makoto rubbed his temples.

"She's smart and she's bright. Eventually she'll understand and maybe even forgive ya."

"Yeah", Makoto said a little pessimistic. "We'll see about that. Well, on the bright side, if she hates me after the fact, then I'll probably have more time to focus on my other problem child."

"That reminds me. How the bloody hell did ya break into the research department without anybody noticin' ya?"

"Oh, I was noticed alright. Someone else was there too. But there's something strange about that person I still can't quite put my finger on."

"For example?"

"It looked like he was there to break in himself, but as soon as he saw me he attacked. There was something about his aura, it felt… incredibly sinister. Filled with unbridled rage and pain."

"Unbridled rage and sinister aura ey", Ousai uttered. "Sounds like a Hollow ta me."

"I thought so too, but that's impossible. Despite everything, his Reiatsu was still mostly a Shinigamis, it was just… it was really weird. _He_ was really weird, so I freaked out, went Bankai on his ass and got the hell outta there."

"He was strong enough to push ya into usin' Bankai?"

"No and that's the freaky part. He wasn't really that strong. If we'd just compare the difference in Reiatsu, I could take him, no problem. But there was just something so frighteningly evil about him. I was in a panicked state myself already and then I encountered something like _that._ It didn't really matter if he was or wasn't stronger than me, I just didn't want to take a chance."

"Ya haven't seen 'im since?"

"No, I haven't. Sometimes I get an uneasy feeling, like he's watching me from somewhere, but other than that, nothing."

His foster father took a few moments before he responded. "Just make sure ta take care of yerself. I don't wanna have ta bury ya before I kick the bucket meself."

"Don't worry old man", Makoto said with a confident smile. "I'm gonna outlive you three times over."

ooo

"Captain Kurotsuchi", somebody yelled. Ah, how annoying. This was the second time today he had been interrupted from dissecting the rather magnificent specimen in front of him. All the preparations had been made, the tools were ready, his helpers were standing by, the room was steril and everything was ready to go. Additionally, he had been looking forwad to the autopsy of this one for a very long time, so this better be important.

"Yes?", he replied rather annoyed. He didn't even bother to turn around, he just glanced over his shoulder to see who the unfortunate fool was who had just disturbed his moment ony to be mildly surpised. Running at him with a sheet of paper in his hands was Akon, his vice-captain.

Strange, Akon should know better than to interfere with Mayuris business. Perhaps this was something interesting after all.

"Make it quick Akon", Mayuri said after his vice-captain had reached him, still slightly annoyed. "As you can see, I'm about to get busy with an exciting specimen I have been anticipating for a while now."

"The report you've been waiting for, the one regarding the break in around half a year ago", Akon said, short of breath.

Mayuri's annoyance was suddenly replaced with curiousity. "Have you finally been able to filter out the components?"

"Yes sir."

"The blood samples?"

"Fully analyzed."

"The areal Spiritual pressure changes and additional data?

"Recovered and written down as well as the full extent of compromised surveillance installations and stolen equipment."

"The spiritual signatures?"

"…separated, but they remain unidentifiable sir."

"That is most certainly disappointing", Mayuri noted annoyed again. "The incident is almost half a year old, you've had all the data from the start and you're still unable to completely analyze everything?"

"My most humble apologies sir. We've tried every conceivable method, but the spiritual signatures are still the same. We can't identify them the way we've identified the blood samples and everytime we try something risky, we lose another part of the samples."

"And the newer methods I've instructed you in?"

"Not even those worked sir."

"Curious…", Mayuri mumbled to himself, already in deep thought. "I will attend to that particular data myself, but that comes later. Show me what you have for now." He reached out his hand, wordlessly demanding the sheet of paper in Akons hands. He handed it over and Mayuri quickly skimmed over the data. Then he read a specific set of information that just couldn't be correct.

"Akon, are you sure that every single bit of analyzed data on this sheet is 100% correct?"

"Your question regards the Spiritual pressure composition, doesn't it?", Akon immediately asked.

Mayuri squinted his eyes. "Continue."

"I checked it at least five times, but the results were always the same. Everytime I concluded my tests, it seemed like both signatures were part Hollow, altough the Hollow signature was the same in both samples, which would indicate that it was the same person twice."

"And you're still sure that both individuals that broke into my laboratory that night were Shinigami?"

"Yes sir, that much we were able to deduce from the signatures. Our theory is that the Reiatsu from one of them mixed with the other in the altercation they had outside the building. We've also been able to trace the paths they were going within the research department, so we now know who stole which equipement."

"Elaborate", Mayuri commanded intrigued.

Akon nodded. "One individual, let's call it subject one, was wandering around aimlessly on the complex. It openend and closed several doors, the equipement that was in those respective rooms however remained untouched, except our technological Shunpo-amplifier prototype based on Quincy techniques. Subject one was only rummaging throughout the complex until it had found one of the old prototype Garganta doorways. After that, it had immediately tried to leave the building. Subject two proceeded way different. It's almost as if it knew exactly where to look. Three of the six destroyed storage sites were actually robbed. We have however been able to preserve the destroyed samples."

"Good. At least we still have that. Do we know anything specific regarding subject ones escape?"

"No sir, apart from the fact that it must have clashed with subject 2 somewhere on the way, we have no idea."

Mayuri nodded. "I see", he said already absent again.

"Captain Mayuri, is something the matter?", Akon asked after a while.

"Why do you ask?"

"You don't seem particularly upset by these findings."

Mayuri chuckled. "Keenly observed Akon. As a matter of fact I am not upset, no. This situation has turned into an opportunity to present one of my projects in a better and more convincing light before the captain-commander. Is everything we discussed on this report?"

"Yes, sir."

"Before I tend to this matter I need to proceed with this autopsy. I have prepared too long and I am too positively thrilled about dissecting this corpse to do it sometime else. You may leave Akon."

"Of course, sir."

"Oh and Akon," Mayuri quickly added. "Please do make sure to keep Nemuri Hachigou busy during my procedure. I absolutely cannot use any distractions right now."

"As you wish sir", Akon answered and then turned around to leave.

"Subject one and two had an altercation", Mayuri mumbled to himself. "And guessing from their searching patterns, they don't necessarily belong to the same factions."

He took another look at the paper sheet and searched for the damage report section. The information indicated that their fight was rather serious. Short but intense. Mayuri couldn't help but slowly laugh himself into a really good mood before beginning his autopsy. His new project to surpass Urahara Kisuke yet again was now much closer in his reach than he could have ever imagined

And he couldn't help but be absolutely thrilled about it.

**Author's notes:**

Hey, hey, hey, people. It's me again. After having been gone for quite some time. Not to worry, the story is coming along smoothly, that's all good. I mean, if you worried about it, well then sorry for being an infrequent updater (is that even a word?), and if not, then I guess you're all good.

Before I get to this chapter, Imma have to adress something I did not speak at all about in the last one, which is the choice in music.

Now I don't know if any of y'all actually listen to the tracks I'm "perscribing" at some points of the story, if you're not you can just leave this part out and move along. If you actually are, then cool, I'm happy that effort doesn't go to waste. So, in the last chapter, I suggested a track title from the movie "Mad Max: Fury Road" (which is one of the most amazing action movies I've ever seen, go watch it, it's so good I swear). The movie can best and most simply be described as a 2 hour chase scene, or a two hour Mario cart cutscene from hell rated R. In the movie, the characters are under tension most of the time and there's this theme of "survival of the fittest" present. To me, this music has exactly the kind of wild, raw, chaotic vibe that's fitting for a Hollow and or a Hollow fight scene. I felt it was really fitting and so that's why I chose it.

Now onto this chapter:

The plot thickens! Somewhat at least. I've kept the pacing slow for the most part, at least in my opinion, which is something that can lead to parts feeling uneventful and dragging at times. This is supposed to be a full on sequel to Bleach (how I got so much alcohol into my system that I thought tackling something so big was a brilliant idea, I have no fucking clue), and as such we first need to get to know the characters. For that, slow pacing is in my opinion better than quick pacing, because if you pace your story too quickly, it's gonna feel like an assimilation of events that are told to you (the reader) through a narrator and not the view of a character itself as it should be.

And even if it's told through the perspective of characters themselves, if the story moves too fast, you essentially get "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker". For all of you out there who've seen it and loved it or hated it, hey, more power to you, this is just my personal opinion. I personally really liked the movie, but boy is it a mess. From the first fucking sentence in the god damn title crawl you realize that this one does not give a fuck about people who'd like an actual movie, it's just "GO! GO! GO!, let's go to places, meet new characters and forget about them as soon as they've fulfilled their narrative purposes".

What I'm trying to say is that I think good character introduction and development needs slow pacing for the story of that character. If that's a turn off for you, I completely understand.

Oh, and to adress the elephant in the room, BLEACH IS COMING BACK! OUR PRAYERS HAVE BEEN HEARD PEOPLE! I cannot stress about how actually amazing it is that Bleach is coming back after over 8 fucking years. It almost seemed like an impossible dream, but here we are and it never felt better to be a Bleach fan. The only thing that I really, really hope for is that they do something about that ending, but seeing as Fairy Tail had one of the most loathed and unstatisfying endings in manga history (I know it technically continues with the 100 years quest but still), and they didn't change that in the anime, I kinda doubt it. It would be amazing as hell, but honestly, I'd be okay if they didn't. Bleach even coming back is an anomaly and if that's the only thing we get I'm still happy, because it's more than we ever hoped we would get.

As always, I welcome reviews and encourage them. Or, you know, PM me if you want to tell me something personally, I welcome that too.


	21. Chapter 20

I don't own the rights to Bleach. Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo and all the respective studios (which I'm too lazy to google and will therefore remain unnamed)

* * *

Chapter 20: Aoi Shichika II

It was already late evening when Aoi walked down the abandoned district. Her goal was the equally abandoned old gaming arcade she used to spend time in. Those were some of the rare memories she actually treasured form a life that had… not always been easy. It wasn't like her childhood or highschool days had been the worst, but she was more often than not picked on, labeled an outcast or both.

One of the only people that always treated her kindly had been the old shop owner, Shiro Kanda. Everytime she had been going through a harder time then usual, he had always turned a blind eye to the opening times, or the miscounted the amount of coins he had handed her out, or the prices for certain items that Aoi had been eyeing for a long time.

She reached the arcade and put down the flowers she had previously bought next to the door. She looked up to the sky and wondered if he was still there, but since she could still see the chains wrapped around the building, she thought that he might still be sticking around somewhere.

As if on cue, he popped up inside the entrance and said: "Now what might you be doing here?"

"JESUS!", she yelled and jumped backwards while instinctively clenching her fists. "Don't scare me like that, one of these days I'm gonna have a heart attack", she said angrily.

"Now now", Kanda-san chuckled kindly, "you're far too young to even think of those. You've still got your whole life ahead of you."

"Please don't remind me."

"Now, now, growing old is not so bad. It brings a lot of life's riches with it."

"Yeah, bills for example. Or the crippling fear of your inevitable end and the realization of how your entire life has just been a really long story about how you died. Truly, growing old must be worth it."

"…is something on your mind young lady?", he asked with a mildly expecting tone, as if he already knew the answer to that question, but just wanted her to confirm it. He was right of course, but she wanted to avoid that conversation. She wasn't really in the mood to talk. It had been a long day at work and she just wanted to go home to the holy safe zone that was her bed. The only reason she had even come here was to bring him the promised flowers from two weeks ago.

"Not really, why?", she asked in a tone as casual as possible.

He raised an eyebrow. "Because you always get mildly overdramatic when you are upset. Are you sure that there is absolutely nothing on your mind?"

She sighed. Trying to deceive the old man was pointless to begin with and she didn't know why she even tried. If there was one person she could talk to about her problems, it was Kanda-san.

"You know what yeah, there actually is something. It's been nagging in the back of my head ever since I helped that boy two weeks ago."

"Ah yes, I remember. Did you find his parents?"

"Yeah we did", she said a little downthrodden, shivering a little with disgust while recalling the events that had happened in that warehouse.

"…I'm sensing a but there."

"His parents weren't exactly… his parents anymore. I can't really explain it other than saying that they were turned into some kind of crazy soul eating monsters. Wasn't pleasant to look at." She suppressed another shiver. She sat down and leaned against the wall of the old building. Kanda-san did the same and for a while they both just sat there, her trying to find the words to continue and him patiently waiting for her to do so.

"Luckily, another person showed up who was somehow able to fight these things. If he wouldn't have, that boy, Toko, and I would have probably been eaten. I've been terrified to even step out of my house since that night. Everytime I see a ghost asking me for help my mind immediately flashes back to that night and it scares me."

She paused and waited for him to ask a question or something, but as he had always done in the past, Kanda-san just waited for her to gather her thoughts and continue speaking. He was never one to ask questions or demand explanations. He just listened until the other person was done talking and had gotten everything off their chest until he would give his thoughts about the matter.

"The person who saved us in that night told me that I have the potential to develop abilitys to fight these monsters. Now knowing that, everytime I see a ghost asking me for something I'm scared and torn inside. Part of me wants to help, knowing that I could, knowing that I could probably gain some sort of strength to do some good in the world. But the other part is scared shitless, because I know that one of these things could show up again and I don't know if there would always be someone to save me. And yeah, that wouldn't be a problem if I learned how to fight those monsters, but if I did, would that change my life for the better?"

She wrapped her arms around her knees, gazed up to the already dark night sky and sighed. "I am absolutely lost here and I have no idea what to do."

Silence reigned the area for a few moments and none of the two said a word. Aoi had spoken her mind and was now waiting for Kanda-san to give her an answer. She didn't know what kind it would be but she hoped it would help, because if he couldn't give her any kind of advice, then no one could.

"From what I'm gathering", he started after a while and spoke slowly and carefully. "You feel some sort of responsibility to this, in your own words, unknown world. Even though you don't really want anything to do with it, even though you wish you'd never gained this ability to see the dead, you feel like you owe it to this world and its inhabitants to try and help them, simply because of the reason that you could be able to do so."

From the corner of her eyes she noticed how he turned her head towards her. "You are so incredibly kind", he said and even though she could not see it, she knew he had this heartwarming smile on his face. "And I wish I could give you a clear answer as to what you should do now, I really do. But I cannot decide your life for you. I can't tell you whether you should embrace this new, unfamiliar side of you, or if you should lock it away and just try your best to forget about it."

She closed her eyes and buried her face between her legs. So there was really nobody who could help her after all.

"What I can tell you however", he continued and caused her to raise her head again and look towards him, "is that whatever you choose, it has to be a decision you can live with. If the responsibility you feel is not overwhelmingly crushing, then turning away from it shouldn't keep you from continuing to live a normal live without having second thoughts all the time. If it is so great that you have to think about it everyday if you don't follow its call however, then considering to go down that new and uncertain path might not be a bad choice either. Whatever path you choose in the end, it has to be the one that let's you continue your life without looking back on that decision and regret it."

She laughed a bit and then said: "That was the best and least helpful advice at the same time anyone has ever given me. How is that even possible?"

He stood up and reached his hand out to her, helped her on her feet and gave her a heartfelt hug. "Live is never easy Aoi", he said as he let her go again. "Life is full with hard choices and unforeseeable occurences. All we can do is make the best out of what we get."

She smiled a little and wanted to add a quippy remark to that, but he suddenly dawned a painful expression and pushed her away. She was confused and almost tumbled over her own feet. She came to a safe stance and when she looked at him to ask what that was for, she saw him crouching on the ground, coughing and gasping for air.

"Kanda-san, what's happening to you?", she asked scared and wanted to run to him and to help, but he looked at her with determination and held out his hand to stop her. He shook his head and shuddered while trying to suppress another coughing fit, but the determination in his eyes didn't waver.

Suddenly, his body started to make inhuman sounds and became surrounded with an unsettling aura. It even started to do something that could only be described as glitching, disappearing and reappearing again in irregular intervals. But through all of that his hand was still held out, signaling her to stay away, even when he had to turn his face away.

Through all of it she wasn't able to do anything. She could just stand there and watch as one of the most important people in her life suffered and endured. The symptoms kept repeating and after a while even the chains coming out of his body and surrounding the old gaming arcade started giving off an unholy rattling sound.

After what felt like half an eternity, the rattling sound died down and his coughing fits got more infrequent and less severe until he was only breathing heavily. He lowered his hand and tried to get himself up to his feet again and she rushed to him to help him up.

"What was _that_?", she asked frightened and tried to make sense of what had just happened.

"I don't quite know myself", he answered uncertain. "Those seizures started happening a little over a week ago, though this one was significantly worse than the others. I believe they are a sign that my time here is slowly coming to an end."

He tried to give her a comforting smile but failed and just made her all the more worried. She helped him inside of the building and sat him down to lean him against a wall.

"That doesn't make any sense", she said. "I mean, you've already died. You're a ghost, you're in the afterlife, how is your time coming to an end?"

"I don't think I am in the afterlife", he said weary. "This still is the world of the living after all. To get to the afterlife I would probably have to move on from my actual life. But I just can't bring myself to abandon my old arcade." A sudden glance of obsession appeared in his eyes, almost like a fevery mania. "I absolutely can't", he whispered.

She wanted to ask him what that meant when a young male voice resounded from outside the building. "Hello? Anybody in there?"

Damn it. A normal citizen was the last thing she needed right now. She kept quiet in the hopes the person would go away, but to her disappointment she heard steps coming towards the entrance. Shit, shit, shit, what should she do? Should she say something? Should she hide and wait for him to go away? She took a breath and weighed her options.

The voice didn't sound familiar, so he probably wouldn't know her and wouldn't ask that many questions, so-

"If you can hear me, then don't worry. I didn't come here to harm you or anything, I just wanna help you to move on from this world to the next."

Help to move on? Either this guy was on drugs, or…

She took the risk and snuck a peek outside the entrance. Standing there was a tall young man with a black robe, a long sword on his back, a short one on his right waist and orange hair. She tilted her head a little in curiosity and stepped into his line of field.

"Who are you?", she asked and tried to sound as confident as possible.

"Ah, my name is Ichi- hold on, you can see me?", he asked genuinely surprised. He didn't elude any imposing or intimidating aura, in fact his whole body language was pretty relaxed and lose.

"Ye- Yeah?", she answered confused. "Why, should I _not_ see you?"

"No, no it's fine", the man responded and smiled faintly. "It's just that, normally, humans don't see me so I was a little surprised. My name is Ichigo Kurosaki. Who are you?"

Well, that was odd. Aside from the get-up he was wearing and the two unusual swords he was carrying around, he seemed like a pretty normal, friendly and polite guy. Also, she couldn't help but feel like she had already heard his name somewhere a little while ago. "Aoi Shichika", she answered, to which he gave an understanding nod. "So wait, you said that normally humans don't see you. Does that mean you're… not human?"

"Well", he said and his faint smile turned into a slightly pained one. "The answer to that question is yes and no."

She raised an eyebrow and frowned. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Yeah I know", he said with a sigh. "Look, the explanation for what exactly I am is waaaaaay more complicated than I'd like it to be and it's kind of a pain, so let's not delve into that too much. Let's focus on what's more important right now." He pointed towards the old arcade. "This building and whoever's inside it are pretty much a time bomb, so I'm gonna have to ask you to step out of it."

"Time bomb- what are you talking about?"

"There's somebody inside that building. That person is tied to that building by their chain. About a minute ago he started radiating some pretty dark pressure, that's the reason why I'm even here. Listen", he said with a very sincere tone. "I'm here to help, I swear. Let me do my job and I'll explain everything to you afterwards if you want to. Deal?"

"You're here to help?", she asked uncertain after a while.

"Yeah."

"And you're not gonna pull any tricks on me, you're serious."

He started rubbing the back of his head and frowned a little while mumbling something to himself that sounded like "if I were I wouldn't really tell you would I", but then he responded in the same honest tone again. "I'm serious. All I want is to help."

She slowly stepped out of the entrance while he started casually walking towards it. It was abnormal just how calm and relaxed he was. She let him pass and considered waiting outside for a few moments, but then immediately abandoned the thought. No way she'd leave Kanda-san alone with some stranger just because said stanger was a little friendly.

She followed him inside to which he turned around with a little frown and said: "I think it's better if you get some distance. It could get a little… uncomfortable if things go south."

She remembered the last time things went south in relation to ghosts and was immediately overcome by another shudder. "What, is he gonna lose control, get a hole in his chest and turn into some freaky monster with a mask for a face?", she asked sarcastically.

"Actually yeah, that about sums up what "things going south" would be. How did you know that?", he said nonchalantly with a hint of surprise.

"Wait, you're for real right now?", she said as anxiety suddenly took a hold of her. She looked down to the old man who was still sitting leaned on against the wall now with an almost empty, fevery look in his eyes.

"Yeah, I am. Don't freak out", he said while reaching for the big swords on his back. "I'm not going to cut him. This'll just take a second." He walked up to the old man, crouched down and touched Kanda-san's forehead with the end of the hilt of his giant sword.

At first nothing happened. Then, a symbol of light appeared on the old man's forehead and started to encase his whole body. The chains that were coming out of his chest started shining in a soothing, serene blue light that soon lit up the whole building. Meanwhile, the look in Kanda-san's eyes had returned to their normal state again. He said nothing, but he seemed… relieved.

He looked at Ichigo Kurosaki and gave him a nod that almost seemed like it was expressing gratitude. Then he looked at Aoi and for one last time, gave her his usual gentle smile. Then he disappeared.

The soothing light slowly faded away as a dark butterfly emerged from where the old man had just vanished. It was almost like the world had come to a standstill as Aoi watched the butterfly elegantly glide out of the window and disappear out of sight.

Aoi was bewildered. The event she had just witnessed was so surreal and yet she couldn't help but be moved by it. There had been something special about that light, it had almost felt… alive. As if Kanda-sans entire life had been reflected by that light in those few fleeting moments leaving Aoi with bittersweet melancholy.

He had gone through so many hardships himself, but through all of that had always preserved what he deemed most important, which was to be kind to others.

Ichigo Kurosaki stood up and turned around. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

ooo

"So explaining all of that is a little… complicated and we'd have to get into detail. You sure you got that kinda time?"

"My shift is set for the afternoon tomorrow, so that won't be much of a problem."

"Wait, you work a part time job?", Ichigo asked.

"No, it's not part time, it's full time. Sometimes I just have half day shifts and other times I don't."

"How old are you again?", he asked pretty nonchalantly.

"Seventeen", she answered. "I know it's a little unusual for someone my age to have a full time job already, since 98% of everyone else the same age as me is chilling in high school right now. Long story short, money doesn't grow on trees and when things got tough, I had to make a choice."

"…wanna talk about it?" The question was pretty casual, but at the same time had a lot of empathy behind it. She felt like he was trying to put himself into her shoes and try to understand her and the casual manner in which he asked the question made it all the more generous, because it seemed like he was doing that a lot of the time. Listening to people and try to understand them. Not for a study or anything of the sort, simply to get to know them better and comprehend their reasons and life.

"No thanks", she turned him down. "Although the offer is nice, it's not the kind of stuff I'm particularily fond of going into detail about."

"Alright then, I'll get to the explaining. But first, and I know this is kinda inconvenient, but would you mind a change in locations? I just remembered my sister made dinner just before I had to rush out of the house and I had to promise her to return as soon as business was done so that she'd even let me leave."

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that it's ok to let a total stranger into your home just before dinner?"

"Wouldn't be the first time that we have a total stranger in the house without an explanation", he said with a slightly agitated tone that suggested he had experienced some embarrassments because of occurences like that. "Besides, we've grown used to it."

Aoi thought about the offer for a moment but there was literally nothing else exciting to do. She could go home, sure, but next to reading books, doing chores or playing some videogames and trying to ignore the damn ghosts that were already walking around in the apartement complex, going with this Ichigo Kurosaki person to get some more answers to her questions and explanations as to what the actual hell was going on with her sounded more enticing.

"Yeah sure", she said. He nodded stoicly, then suddenly grabbed her shoulders and sweeped her off the ground, holding her in bridal position. "What are you doin-"  
She wanted to finish the sentence, but was interrupted by him. "You might wanna prepare yourself for some slight vertigo."

From one moment to the other, the world around her transformed into a blurr and for a few seconds, everything was flowing into itself, as if the world was rushing past her with incredible speed. Then it stopped, as fast as it had begun, but the environement wasn't the same.

Ichigo Kurosaki gently put her down and then she realized what he meant by slight vertigo. Her stomach rebelled and her senses were momentarily thrown off balance. She tumbled a little from one foot to another, until she almost fell over, so she sat on the ground to calm down.

"Are you okay?", he asked a little concerned.

"Please, never, ever do that again", she groaned.

"You get used to it after a few times, so don't worry about it", he said and although she couldn't see his face, she was sure that he was wearing a carefree smile. She forced herself to look up to him and shot him a pained glare, followed by an equally pained groan.

He chuckled a bit, extended his hand to her and helped her up. Now that she was standing, she was able to make out the building they were currently in front of. The words "Kurosaki clinic" were written on a sign that was hanging over the entrance door. "Come on, let's go inside and talk about this stuff over dinner. My little sister makes pretty good curry, I hope you like it, else she's gonna be pissed and cook you meals until you like one of them."

"Hold on", she said and stopped. "First off, that's a pretty strange reaction to somebody not liking your cooking. Second off and way more importantly: I'm eating dinner with you and your family?"

"Uhhh, yeah, how else did you imagine how this'd go down? Us eating dinner and you waiting in the living room?"

"…kind of?", she remarked a little embarrassed.

"Well, that ain't happening. There's always more than enough food on the table."

Ichigo opened the door and stepped inside and after hesitating a bit she followed him. She took off her shoes and put them next to the other ones that were already piled up next to the entrance. "I'm home everybody! Also, we have a visitor", he called through the house.

Then she followed him into the dining room where four people were sitting on the table. Or, more accurately described, 3 people sat at the table and one of them, a dark haired man in his fourties jumped over the table head first towards Ichigo. That would have already been weird enough, but to top it all off, Ichigo freaking _spinkicked _the man mid-air, which led to the him crushing into a nearby wall.

"God damnit old man", Ichigo suddenly burst out, "can't you keep it together for like, _five minutes_ without having to attack one of your kids?"

"Is Onii-chan back and still in his Shinigami form? Because I can't see him. Onii-chan!", somebody chastised him from the dinner table. The voice belonged to a brown-haired girl who appeared to be in Aoi's age. "Don't break our house even if dad attacks you out of nowhere. Dad, stop attacking Onii-chan out of nowhere, we are eating!"

"Oh, but no!", the old man, appearantly their father, said in an overly energetic manner. "One must always be ready for everything coming their way. Includiiiiiing… SURPRISE ATTAC-!", he was about to finish yelling that sentence and had already jumped towards his son again, who in turn had just grabbed him mid-air and slammed him face first into the floor.

"Isn't that a little brutal?", Aoi accidentally asked out loud.

"Oh no", the third person sitting on the dinner table, a black haired girl, casually answered her question. "This is like, the golden standard for these two. If you're thinking about calling this family weird because of that, feel free to go ahead, because it's still not NORMAL TO ATTACK YOUR CHILDREN, NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU DO IT!", she yelled in the direction of father and son, currently wrestling on the floor.

"I'm Karin by the way", she said, back in a composed manner again. Her attitude was somehow surprisingly relaxed considering the fact that her brother had just kicked their father into a wall. "The one trying to talk some common sense into these two idiots over there is my twin sister Yuzu. I imagine you've already met my older brother, obviously, and that you can see him too. The one whose bones are probably about to pop because he was dumb enough to attack Ichi-nii again is our father."

"Aoi Shichika", she replied a little nervous and unsure how to react. One minute in this household and the atmosphere was already way livelier than on a Saturday afternoon in the gaming arcade. "Pleased to meet all of you."

"Wait, Onii-chan brought a guest?", Yuzu remarked. "You should have told me so, I would have made more food", she pouted a little. "We are having curry rice today, I hope you like that. If not, I'd be more than glad to make something else, but then you'd have to wait a bit"; she said after having turned to Aoi with a welcoming smile.

"Oh no", the latter replied and energetically shook her head. "Please don't do something like that."

Karin slightly tilted her head and asked: "Is something wrong? You seem a bit off."

"No, no everything's fine. I just wasn't expecting this much sudden hospitality and well…", with a somewhat concerned look she turned to Ichigo who was currently cutting off his fathers air supply with a headlock, "…that."

"Ah, don't worry about it, he'll survive. That reminds me", she turned towards her brother again. "Ichi-nii, beating up dad isn't worth a cold dinner. Go upstairs and get your body, we won't be waiting much longer."

Ichigo looked up from whatever he was currently doing to their father and said: "Sorry, be with you in one second." He released his dad, stood up and from one moment to the other fucking _disappeared._

"Wow!", Aoi exclaimed. Yuzu looked at her a little perplexed while Karin said: "He does that a lot, no need to overreact. You'll get used to it if you spend more than a few hours around him. Anyway, go ahead and take a seat, Ichi-nii'll be down here any minute."

"Don't mind if I do", Aoi said, still a little bit uncertain. This much hospitality towards a stranger just wasn't normal. She took a seat and almost instantly, a bowl of rice was handed her way, together with curry in a separate, smaller bowl.

"I didn't know how you like yours, so I just put them separately. You can go ahead and mix them however you wish."

Meanwhile, the father of the family had gotten up from the floor and despite his bloody nose he was as energetic as he had been before. "Apologies my young lady", he said and looked at Aoi. "As you could see I was a little occupied but allow me to correct my impoliteness of not introducing myself. Isshin Kurosaki is my name, pleased to meet you." He walked towards the table and took a seat, while Yuzu gave him a tissue for his bloody nose.

"Are you ok?", Aoi asked a little concerned.

A beaming smile appeared on his face as he said: "Oh but of course. Don't worry, this is nothing."

"Dad, you seriously need to stop attacking Onii-chan when he's in his Shinigami form, and especially when we are about to eat", Yuzu chastised him.

"Yeah dad, you friggin' maniac", Ichigos voice resounded from the bottom of the stairs. "You should really stop that." He had changed his clothes and the two swords he had previously been carrying were nowhere to be found. He took a seat at the table as well and thankfully received a bowl of rice from his sister..

"Oh but I can only stop when I'm certain you're always ready for anything and everything."

"…so then you'll never stop", Ichigo concluded slightly annoyed

"Exactly."

Ichigo simply sighed in unison with Karin and then said: "You know what, let's just eat. Itadakimasu", he wished to everyone and so they started eating. The dinner was lively and full of joy. Despite the fact that his father had attacked him just a few minutes ago, Ichigo seemed to be getting along pretty well with him. From their conversation, Aoi was able to pick up that Isshin Kurosaki was a doctor and that Ichigo was currently studying the subject at the university. As soon as they started talking about medicine, the slight friction that had been between them had all but vanished, making room for an actual father-son relationship that was built on mutual love and respect.

_From the casual way they are talking they must have conversations like that a lot, _she thought to herself. Just looking at the two made her smile, but also a little sad. It might not have been perfect, but it was more than Aoi had ever had with her own father. He was always away on business trips.

After they finished eating, everyone kind of went their way. Isshin put on a coat and said he'll be back in a few hours. Karin went upstairs to her room to study, and Yuzu started doing the dishes. Aoi offered her help, but Yuzu declined vehemently. "Not even in a million years will I allow a guest to do the dishes or even help with them", she said and crossed her arms, blocking the entrance to the kitchen.

"Let's go to the living room", Ichigo said. "Then you can finally get your answers."

They went to the living room and took a seat. "A'ight, hit it."

She didn't really have to think long to figure out where to start. "What was it that you did with Kanda-san?"

"You mean the old man from a little while ago?"

She nodded.

"Right, that is something called "Konso". With the Konso I help ghosts to go to the afterlife who are unable to get there by themselves, although it usually only works with so called "plus" spirits. I'm gonna go a little bit further into detail, 'cause I can see you're already lost." She gave him a sheepish and thankful smile.

"Alright, so the everyday ghosts that you see, with chains coming out of their chests are peaceful ghosts called pluses. I just call them ghosts. Then there's another term which is "minus". It refers to evil ghosts, who turned into weird freaky monsters with masks for faces, they're called Hollows. While I mention it, earlier you were pretty accurate while describing a Hollow transformation. You watched one before from afar or…?"

"Yeah I did, but not really from afar. I saw one uncomfortably up close actually."

"Really", he asked a bit surprised. "How'd you get out of that situation?"

"A jedi knight showed up and shot some arrows made of energy."

"A jedi knight showed up and shot- wait", he said and thought for a couple seconds. "White clothes, black hair and glasses?", he then accurately described the person from two weeks ago. "Seemed like he was trying really hard to be cool?" She nodded. "Yeah, that'd be Ishida. He's one of the local Hollow fighters. Anyways, my job as a Shinigami is to help the normal ghosts to go over into the afterlife and to slay the Hollows that enter this world. See, when a Shinigami cuts down a Hollow, that Hollow gets purified from their sins they commited as a Hollow. However, if they already lived a sinful life as a human, they get dragged to hell and before you even ask", he stopped the obvious question before she could say it out loud.

"Let's not go there. Hell is an entirely different can of worms you don't wanna open right now, just trust me on this one. But back to the basics. Next to plus spirits and minus spirits, there's also a certain in-between. That would be a so-called Jibakurei, a vengeful ghost that has chained itself either to a person or a building. Those usually take longer to turn into a Hollow, even if they're pretty much already halfway there from the get-go. You didn't misunderstand me, I said vengeful", he added just as she was about to say something.

She took a few moments to process all of that information and then asked: "But Kanda-san wasn't really vengeful. So how does that work?"

"This is something else we'd have to go into a lot of detail for, which we won't 'cause it's a serious pain, so let me just make it short: Basically, God exists, but not the way you'd think. What you'd define as a God is actually known under the term "Soul King". The Soul King acts as kind of a pillar to maintain the borders between our human world and every other one that exists. He can make changes to the natural order of things, but he's not almighty. A few years ago, there was a change in Soul Kings and the new one seems to have made a few… subtle changes. For example, your Kanda-san the peaceful Jibakurei that can be sent to the afterlife with no problems what so ever. Normally, you can't do that with those ghosts, they freak out and turn into Hollows. Your question answered with that?"

"Yeah pretty much", she said a little stunned while trying to digest the fact that something like a freaking _god_ was actually a thing. "God exists?". she couldn't help but ask.

"Yes and no, like I said it's complicated. He's not literally god, he doesn't have omniscience, he can't just do what he wants however he damn well pleases since he's monitored by his guards and he doesn't really have a plan for all of us. But he _is_ the pillar for all of our worlds and the reason why they don't collapse, so he holds a lot of power." He didn't explain any further, so she assumed he was done and thought about her next question.

"Two weeks ago, that Ishida guy said something about me maybe being able to develop certain powers so I can fight these things. He told me to look for either a Sado Yasutora or a Riruka Doku-what's-ma-call-it. Do you know them?"

"Yeah I know them. Why, you want them to train you?"

"I'm still not really sure. Ever since I've seen the other guy with the lighsaber, I was wondering if I should learn these things, if I'm really capable of learning them."

"Well, you won't have much luck with Chad and while it's nothing against her as a person, Riruka ain't exactly the picture of grace under fire when it comes to teaching."

"Who's Chad?", Aoi asked a little confused.

"Sado. Ages ago I read his name wrong once, so I've been calling him Chad ever since."

"So, both are not really an option then", she concluded.

"I mean", he said with a shouldershrug, "I could train you if you really wanted, teach you a bit about this world every now and then."

"Really?", she asked a little surprised.

"Well, it won't be much, it'd be like two times a month maybe and most of those times will be workouts, which are gonna be hell by the way."

"Like, at the gym?"

"Oh no, I have a place. Or rather, I _know_ a place, hold on." He got up and walked over to the phone, dialed in some numbers and waited until someone seemed to pick up at the other end. "Yo Urahara-san. Yeah it's me. Hey listen, are you using your training vault on Sundays? No it's not a room, I refuse to label that as a room. It's a vault if anything at all and you know it. Why I need it? I'm training somebody. I mean, she still has to say yes, but you get what I mean. Yeah, a new medium. Probably a fullbringer. Oh fucking forget it, no way in hell I'm letting you train her! Yeah, but with me the circumstances were different, I had to rush and she's got plenty of time. Correction, you were around when you let Chad fight Renji. That's not training Chad, that's watching him fight from a distance. The answer is no and that's final. Alright, thank you. Yeah I'll come by if I'm around, sure. I'll keep it in mind. Great. Alright, bye." He hung up the phone and turned to Aoi.

"Like I said, I've got a place. You in?"

"How many of you people exist in this city?", she asked bewildered.

"You mean people who can fight against the Hollows?"

She nodded.

"Ah well, there's me, my dad, an old shopkeeper, Chad, my girlfriend, Ishida whom you've already met…", he stopped stared to the ceiling and went through all the people that came to mind before he turned to her again and said: "You know what let's just say there are a lot."

"Would you even need help?"

"Well I mean", he said and sounded completely down to earth, "technically, I could take care of the whole city on my own, but I still welcome and appreciate whatever they contribute."

Aoi spent a couple moments in deep thought before saying: "You know what, then I think I'll say no." In surprise, Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "There are a lot of you people around appearantly and my support isn't really needed. Before you sent him to the afterlife, that spirit gave me some advice."

Her lips formed a faint smile as she remembered the old mans words. "I thought that, if I was the one of the only persons being able to do something, I'd be obligated to do so. But now that I know that I'm not, that kinda changes things. I really appreciate the help you were ready to give me and I'm grateful for all your generosity and sincerity, really, I am. But my life is already complicated enough as it is and I don't want to make it harder than it has to be."

Ichigo shrugged his shoulders. "Well, that's your decision. In case you change your mind, you know where to find me. Little piece of advice though; if you don't want to involve yourself in this life, it's best to stay away from spirits, because spirits lead to Hollows and you already know what that's like. You know where I live now, so just send them my way if they linger around too much. Or give me a call if you see one with a short chain, it means it'll turn into a Hollow soon. Just call this clinic, I'm sure you can find the number in a phonebook or something."

"Thanks", she said and dawned a little smile. "You know I gotta go now. It was nice meeting you and your family though. And maybe go a little easier on your dad-"

"No", was his immmediate stone cold answer.

"Alright", she said and chuckled a little nervous. "Tell your sister that dinner was delicious. If she ever wants a coffee for free in the morning, the cafè I work at isn't far from here, it's around the old trainstation. First one's on me."

"Yeah, I'll tell her that", Ichigo said.

ooo

The door to the Kurosaki clinic closed behind her. It was evening already and she looked up to the sky to enjoy the last bit of sunshine that gave the horizon a red hue.

She actually felt good about herself. The advice Kanda-san had given her was right. With the knowledge in mind that the dangers of this new world would basically take care of themselves, she could simply walk away from it with a clear conscience. And with that, she got on her way home.

ooo

The dojo of the 11th divisions training grounds was empty, except for the two people in it, a teacher and a student.

Kiara was sitting on the floor while she listened to Makotos teachings, which had gotten a lot more educational lately. He had refrained from his usual method of letting her figure out everything by herself and had actually started to properly explain and demonstrate things.

They were still sparring a lot, but now it was more to improve her movements and stances. Actual sparring was now more something she'd do with Akito who was actually on her level. His constant positive energy was still a bit annoying at times, but it was great motivation during training. Makoto had also started to teach her the basics of Kido and she had even managed to learn two or three spells, although she was far from mastering them.

Now they were doing something different though. They did it so Kiara could try and break through to her inner world and finally learn the name of her Zanpakutou, but only with moderate success.

The process was called Jinzen and it was pretty much the only way to hold a proper conversation with their Zanpakutou spirit. There _were_ exceptions to the rule for example when one was getting along with their sword exceptionally well, then they could talk to each other without the use of Jinzen.

Makoto was one of those cases, whose sword, as far as he had told Kiara, was talking to him all the time. Which is why Kiara was getting a little frustrated. Makoto was able to do it with basically zero effort what so ever, while she was plagued by dreams of her inner world and her Zanpakutou spirit that kept making efforts to tell her his or her name (sword spirits had genders, appearantly) and yet she still hadn't made a noteable breakthrough.

The only two noticeable differences that did happen were that each time she entered her inner world, she needed less time than before and that her inner world was starting to appear much clearer to her.

She took a deep breath, put her sword over her lap and then focused on the blade and her connection to it. Realizing Jinzen was almost akin to a trance to her. As soon as she started, she could never tell the passing of time, it was hypnotic.

Slowly but surely she felt herself pulled out of her body into something different. She opened her eyes when she noticed the soft ground under her feet and was once again greeted by the sight of a meadow surrounded by a forest under the serene light of a blue comet that, even if it had a trail of blue light behind it, never seemed to move.

And then there was the center of the meadow, where something that, at first, had looked like an oven but now that it was less blurry, revealed itself to be the chimney of a forge. After hard practice, her entire world had become a crytal clear picture to her. All but one little detail.

The person standing next to the forge.

The spirit of her sword. At first, she hadn't even been able to hear anything at all from the other person occupying er inner world, but now she was slowly beginning hear her opposite, even if her progress was agonizingly slow for her taste. The voice wasn't clear, she couldn't make out even a single letter, let alone a word and the person itself stayed blurry, no matter what she did.

That was issue number one she was struggling to overcome and issue number two was just about to arrive, which was that Kiara was never able to stay more than one to two minutes in her inner world. If she reached that time limit, she was promptly kicked out and found herself n the dojo again. She opened her eyes.

"How long were you able to stay?", Makoto asked.

"Two minutes this time", she said, a little proud that she had been able to hold out until she had reached her upper limit.

"Two minutes… that makes twelve in total. Not bad kid, you're getting pretty good at this. A couple more weeks and you'll be able to hear your swords name. Let's try again, see how long it'll take you this ti-"

Out of nowhere, a messenger Shinigami arrived next to them. A few weeks ago, she would have freaked out about that, but since Makoto and the twins were scaring the hell out of her with that non-stop (which was starting to get really old), she had slowly but surely gotten used to people appearing out of thin air.

"Oh god what now?", Makoto sighed and already massaged his temple.

"4th seat Makoto Souken-san, your presence is requested at captains office."

"A'ight I'll be there, just gotta finish up here", he said a little annoyed.

"Your presence has been requested immediately, it is a matter of utmost urgency."

"Then tell them to start without me, I'm busy."

That had also been one of the things that had changed. A few months ago, Makoto would have immediately left Kiara to her own devices and would have jumped to who or whatever had called him. Now, tough, ever since they got back from old man Ousai, he would always take a few more minutes to finish Kiaras lesson in a way that was still explaining the essence of it so that he could leave without leaving Kiara with just half a lesson.

The messenger hesitated a little and kneeled on the ground with a confused posture before Makoto turned to him again and said: "I just need like five more minutes here and I'll be on my way. If it's really that important then they can come and get me if they really want to." He waved at him a little bit too condescendingly and turned to Kiara again. The messenger hesitated for a few more seconds and then disappeared again.

"Looks like we're gonna have to take the time for your next Jinzen sometime else. Let's go over the other stuff one more time. You memorized the corrections we made to your movements today?"

She nodded.

"Good. As long as I'm gone you can train with Akito. I'm sure he'll never deny a fighting request. If you have any Kido related issues talk to the twins about them. As far as I remember one of them was in the Kido corps before joining squad 11. Just tell them I told you to go to them or else they'll just prank the hell out of you, you know how they do."

"I already know all that, why are you telling me this? It's just a meeting, I mean it's not like you're going on a week long mission again."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. A meeting is something formal and as you know very well, our captain don't do formal. And judging by the fact that he actually called this one, I'm guessing it's something more on the serious side."

"Okay yeah, that makes sense", she muttered to herself.

"Any questions only I could answer? Preferably ones I can answer with one sentence?"

"Do you have a Bankai?", she asked with a sheepish smile.

"Okay, so no questions then", he said and completely ignored the one she had just asked. "Well then, I'll be off. Don't kill Akito, don't kill the twins and don't burn down the dojo while I'm gone."

"Why would I do any of those things? I mean, I don't even have the means to set fire to anything. How would I even do that, with my sword?", she asked as innocent as possible.

He squinted his eyes. "Don't try to get funny with me. I know that one of the spells I taught you was also a fire spell. Which, in hindsight, was a pretty fuckin' stupid idea now that I think about it. Just… don't fire your Kido in the direction of people. Or buildings. No matter how tempting it might be. Know what, as a matter of fact just don't use your Kido at all." She pouted a little, to which he smiled mischievously, gave her a wink and disappeared via Shunpo,

"One day", she muttered to herself and sat back on the floor. Makoto had only said something about taking the time, not postponing her Jinzen training. So she put her sword on her lap again and focused once more.

She didn't know how long she had been sitting there meditating, only the amount of times she had managed to enter her inner world, which were three, but that didn't really tell her how much time had passed. All of that didn't matter though, because every single alarm bell in her body was ringing at max intensity and that could only mean one thing.

"Kenjiro, Hiroshi I know you're there", she said out into the open. She felt their two presences, not crystal clear, but it was there. Sensing Hiroshi wasn't really concerning, but if Kenjiro, who had been in the stealth force, was senseable then something had to be severly off. Usually it meant that they were playing a prank on her again and simoultaneously letting her know that they were there, pranking _and_ mocking her at the same time.

"No you don't", a quick response came back from Kenjiro.

"I do now", she said trying to stay as calm as possible.

"Shit bro, she got us there", Hrioshi said in an obviously faked manner of admittance. She could feel them quickly move from somewhere in the roof arch to right next to her via Shunpo. She shuddered a little while trying to not be freaked out by the sudden jumpscare attempt.

"Whatcha doin' there?", Kenjiro asked in a playful tone.

"Jinzen", she answered as dry as possible.

"Oh riiiiiiiiight, it's that thing you do to talk to your sword", Hiroshi commented in an equally playful manner as his brother. "Hey, why don't you show us some of that new Kido Makoto-sama showed you?"

"…how do you even know that? We were alone in this dojo when that happened."

"Ah you know how we do", Hiroshi said casually, "just some light stalking from across the area. The usual."

"Where exactly were you to get a good look at that?"

"Oh you know, around…", Hiroshi started.

"…somewhere on the complex…", Kejiro continued.

"…or maybe in the building…"

"…under the floor…"

"…who knows."

That whole exchange happened in nothing more but a few seconds. Kenjiro and Hiroshi, or simply the twins as they were most commonly referred to, had a habbit of starting, continuing and ending each others sentences. They also had a nack for talking waaaaay too damn fast, so conversations with them could turn into real headaches sometimes.

"Anyway, wanna show us some new tricks?", Kenjiro asked, trying exceptionally hard to sound casual about it, probably on purpose. That was always their game. Set up a trap somewhere and let their target know something is up to get them extra suspicious just so they'd walk right into the twins trap anyway. Kiara had walked into a few of those already, so she had slowly but surely figured out how to play their game, which was to not play it at all. She simply sat there didn't move at all and just said: "If you set up another damned Rikujou Koro around me that triggers when I move, I will rip you a new fucking asshole."

Genuinely amused and a little sarcastic, Kejiro nudged his brother with his elbow. "I don't how how she did it, but somehow she made that sound bloody threatening. And also, that's just unfair."

"And unrealistic. I mean, why would we have a reason to set up something like that?"

"Yeah, we just asked her to show us what new things she may have learned and she threatens us. Talk about being rude."

"Guys", she said, mildly annoyed, "I've already seen enough of your bullshit that I can smell it kilometers away so don't even bother."

Hiroshi scoffed a bit and dropped the façade. "You're no fun", he sulked a little. At that very moment, Akitos unmistakable voice resounded from outside the building.

"Yo, Kiara, you there?"

A devious smile immediately found its way onto the twins' faces as Kenjiro said: "This one on the other hand…", and then both of them disappeared again.

_Oh boy_, Kiara thought to herself. She gave it a few quick moments of thought and evaluated whether or not she should warn Akito about what awaited him and after remembering that he had been just as much a victim of their pranks as she had been, she chose to give an alert.

"Yeah I'm in here but Akito-", she wanted continue but in his usual too eager manner he had already opened the sliding door.

"Yeah?", he asked in an upbeat manner.

"Twins", she said and dawned an uncomfortable grimace.

"Wha- oh." His good mood had vanished just as fast as the twins a few seconds ago and as if on cue he was hit by a triggered Bakudo Nr. 61: Rikujou Koro. The technique consisted of six thin beams of light that rammed themselves into the targets mid section and prevented their whole body from moving around. Howling laughter resounded from the culprits as the twins reappeared inside the dojo again.

"Works every time", Kenjiro chuckled while whipping away a tear.

"Come on guys, this isn't funny", Akito lamented.

"It kind of is", Hiroshi said, still smiling.

Akito was about to sy something else, but before he could they were interrupted by a messenger Shinigami.

"Kiara Rokusan, Akito Kobayashi, Kenjiro Kaemon and Hiroshi Kaemon. You are all to report to 4th seat Makoto Souken at the entrance gate of the 11th division immediately." He disappeared as soon as he had finished that sentence.

The twins exchanged a couple of looks and then Hiroshi dispelled the Kido. "Alrighty everyone, enough fooling around. If Makoto-sama wants us summoned somewhere then we shall appear."

"Come on fellas, chop chop."

Kiara rolled her eyes. Normally they'd think "half-time entertainment" whenever somebody asked them to do something, because it just gave them more opportunities to fuck with people, but everytime they had to do something for Makoto they were suddenly eager and earnest and ready to fulfil their given task to their full capabilities. It would have been sweet, but it wasn't. It was annoying as hell.

She sighed took her sword from her lap and got up… only to see the amused smirks on their faces, but it was already too late and six beams of yellow light snapped around her waist, rendering her entire body unable to move.

"Fucking hell!", she yelled.

ooo

Kiara was still angry on their way to the rendezvous point. The twins were just insufferable. It turned out they had simply forgotten to undo the Rikujou Koro they had set up for her. They did immediately set her free after she had ran into their trap, but she was still pissed.

That didn't really last long though, because it all disappeared once she saw Makoto. Something was different about him, something was… off. His usual carefree attitude was nowhere to be found and was instead replaced with a brooding and thoughtful one. Something was bothering him. Whatever had happened in that meeting, it must have been something that he didn't like at all.

"Kiara, Akito", he said and turned to the youngest ones present. "I've received reports that the lower districts are in an uproar. The captain himself has ordered me to see it seized. I now give you a choice and whatever you choose, you need to understand that there is no shame in the decision you make."

Shame? Why would there be shame? Kiara was confused. It had never happened before that Makoto had been so intense. He was almost like a different person.

"We will be heading into dangerous territory that is completely unlike the environement here in Seireitei. We will constantly be surrounded by enemies and need to be on high alert at all times. I cannot guarantee your safety and the chances of your survival might just as well be up to coincidence at in certain cases. The captain has ordered me to take all of you with me, but I still want to give you the possibility to decline: do you want to stay here, be safe and continue your training, or do you want to come with us and head into possibly certain death?"

The look in his eyes was unreadable and not giving away any intent behind his words. He was a bit too formal and didn't seem like his usual self. Kiara was pretty sure that this was not really a good sign. Nonetheless, the decision was clear. She wouldn't sit around and wait when she was presented with the opportunity to finally do something meaningful for once instead of just training all the time.

"I'm in", she said determined. They all turned to Akito to which he casually replied with: "I mean… this is not even a question. Let's hit it."

"Alright", Makoto said, gaining the groups focus again. "Then we leave now, there's no time to lose."

This was strange. His voice wasn't concerning, but it was almost as if it sounded a little… heavy? As if he was shouldering a burden with this mission. The look in his eyes remained unreadable and he turned around towards the division gates.

"Let's go."

**Author's Notes:**

Well would you look at that, back from the grave yet again. Before I get onto the actual chapter, I'd like to apologize to the 20 something people who chose to waste their time reading this fic yet again for being unproductive and lazy. One chapter a month isn't exactly fast enough to keep you all invested in this story, especially when the pacing of isn't exactly that thrilling. I talk about pacing a lot, I know, but I can't help myself, I'm just obsessed with it (even if I think I'm not too good at it).

Now onto the actual chapter:

We meet Aoi yet again and I actually really enjoyed writing her struggle with her new found powers. Usually, a protagonist immediately jumps to the call of adventure and I found it interesting to have a main character who actually straight up refuses to answer the call, because that person knows others will be there instead. Onto the more controversal part tho: Ichigo.  
Now some of you might not exactly be too thrilled with how kind he is to a total stranger and I'd be inclined to agree, but I wrote the scene with a certain thought in mind. So Ichigo has been doing this shit for years now, which means he's pretty chill about probably most of that stuff. He's also about 22 years old now, which adds a certain level of maturity to his already pretty mature character. So when he sees someone like Aoi, he kinda sees himself and wants to provide the help he had at the beginning of his journey. Some of you might also not be okay with how mellow and relaxed he is, but I think it kinda fits. He defeated a literal god for crying out loud, so helping a ghost move on and someone who has the same problems he once had seems like no big deal in comparison.  
I see it as him having grown up even more than before. He's always been the type to help andsave others, so I think it fits his character.  
Also, the Kurosaki family dynamic is pure comedy gold and writing the scene got me nostaligic for simpler times.

The Kiara section of the chapter is rather short in comparison, but still significant. The twins are the biggest trolls around and I absolutely love it, Akito and Kiara are slowly getting along as she begrudgingly begins to respect him and Makoto demonstrates how he has grown as a teacher.

All in all, I'd say I'm pretty statisfied with this one. I hope whoever reads this is too and isn't put off by my infuriatingly irregular update schedule (*scoffs* schedule). Thanks to all of you who dedicate their free time to read a weird fanfiction sequel about deathgods turning ghostly bois into butterflies. (In all honesty though, thanks to everyone who reads this.)

There might still be some spelling errors in here and I'm sorry for those who are confused by it, that's on me.

As always, I welcome reviews and encourage them. Or, you know, PM me if you want to tell me something personally, I welcome that too.


	22. Chapter 21

Chapter 21: The mission

The basics of Shunpo weren't that hard to understand. It was one of the most advanced forms of Hohò, a defensive footwork technique of the Shinigami, with the focus being on speed. The idea was to get from point A to point B with as little steps as possible. In theory, it was rather simple. Translating theory to practice, well, that was a lot of things. Easy wasn't one of them.

Shortly after Makoto had given her and Akito an untypically intense explanation of what was going on, they had taken off. Makoto was leading the way while Kiara and Akito were traveling with the twins, the latter with Hiroshi and the former with Kenjiro.

Kiara had experienced Shunpo herself exactly one time, which had been about a month ago, when Makoto had taken her to visit his foster father. But this time it was different. With Makoto it had felt like the world was turning into a wild stream that was rushing past her with incredible speed, always fluid and at a constant rate. With Kenjiro , it felt almost as smooth, but it was always interrupted by a little stop in between.

"If I may ask", she heard Kenjiro begin next to her. "Where are we heading exactly?" Ever since the mission had begun the twins had been like they were exchanged with other people. Incredibly formal, polite and restrained with their choice in words with no trace of their usual jokey manner.

"District 68", was the short answer from the person leading the small group of five. "A reconaissence team has reported multiple Hollow sightings over the duration of the past week and we are going to take care of it."

And that was all they got for the moment. The rest of the day went by without another word spoken, just the five of them rushing through the woods. It wasn't until the sun set in front of them and the night began that Makoto finally slowed down a bit and led them to an area surrounded by large rocks that served as cover. "We'll rest here for the night. All of you need to be at maximum power tomorrow. Kenjiro, gather some firewood and search the surrounding area for potential threats. Hiroshi, set up defensive Kido around the perimeter. Kiara, Akito, you two stay here and start preparing our camp for the night. Dig a fire pit, clean the area around it, that sort of thing."

"Understood", they all answered simultaneously. He nodded and then disappeared via Shunpo. Kenjiro and Hiroshi followed his example pretty soon afterwards, leaving just Kiara and Akito. "I'll do the fire pit", she voluntarily exclaimed and stepped to a position in about the middle of what would be their provisational camp for the night. Then she started to make use of her newly learned Kido spells and began to chant weak versions of Hado Nr. 1: Sho to one specific place. Sho was just a simple energy wave concentrated into one direction, but it was pretty effective. Kiara reckoned that with enough Spirtual pressure it could have frighteningly phenomenal destructive capabilities.

When she bothered enough to turn around and check on what Akito was doing, she noticed with some surprise that he was using the same Kido spell, but even weaker so that it was essentially just a blast of air, to clean the area. "Who taught you Kido?", she asked a little baffled.

"3rd seat Ayasegawa Yumichika-sama", he answered scarcely.

"How did you get him to do that? Do you have leverage on him? As far as I can tell he's one of the laziest people around."

A self-statisfied smirk appeared on Akitos face. "I persuaded him."

"…how?", Kiara insisted.

"Would you believe me if I said I can be persistent?"

"Ah", she dryly remarked. "That's how you did it."

"He didn't really teach me to be honest. He gave me the basics so I'd leave him alone. I did consider to ask the twins for help, but stopped that train of thought pretty quickly for obvious reasons. So I just kinda hung out in other squads and near the academy to pick up some stuff."

"Didn't they kick you out?"

"Oh they did, but uhm... I don't care."

She tilted her head a bit, then nodded with a "Huh" and continued her work. After a while, she was done digging out a firepit and wanted to help Akito prepare the ground, but he seemed pretty much finished himself, so she kinda searched for questions to continue the conversation. Nothing really came to mind, until…

"So this has always kinda interested me, but why did you challenge the captain to a swordfight?"

"…where's that coming from all of a sudden?"

"Just wondering. As far as I remember, you were barely a week into the 11th division at that point and you straight up yelled at him to fight you. You had to have known just how laughably strong the guy was, so why did you do it?"

"...I wanted to see how he was different from me." Strange. Akito was normally pretty talkative, but just now he seemed almost hesitant to answer at all. Was he insecure about that topic? "And why exactly were you in the need of that knowledge'", she persisted. Several seconds of silence followed until he answered.

"You're gonna laugh at me if I tell you." So he _was_ insecure about it.

"Well that's a first. Never thought you'd be coy about telling things to literally every other person on the planet", she said with a cynical tone.

"The exception makes the rule", he said without a care in the world and shrugged his shoulders, ignoring the very obvious insult. Kiara was surprised. Despite having been around him for some time now, she wouldn't have thought that he would be the type to just take jabs like that in stride. She decided not to push the topic, because Kenjiro appeared right behind them with his arms full of firewood. He walked straight to the firepit and immediately began to stack the wood so that they could ignite it. He then stopped halfway through, looked at the sky, to the rest of the wood he hadn't stacked yet and to the wood he was currently putting inside the pit.

"Damn, I miscalculated. You two", he said, got up quickly and turned to the two novices. "Don't ignite the fire and don't let the other two do it, if they get back before me. I'll be right back." With that, he disappeared again, leaving the two alone once more. Kiara thought about picking up the conversation again, but considering the fact that they could be interrupted any second, she decided not to. Being forced to not continue a conversation because somebody else entered the picture was pretty shit.

She prompted Akito to go with her to look for soft objects that could substitute for a matress in the meantime. They found a lot of bushes and plucked the leaves off from them. They worked fast and silent, as none of the two attempted another conversation. This was the first mission for each of the two of them and they began to feel the pressure. They had no idea what to expect and were pretty alarmed by the behavior of their usually relaxed travel companions.

Hiroshi came back to the camp shortly after his brother had left, looked around, saw the stacked wood in the firepit and then looked to the two novices. "Where's Kenjiro?", he asked.

"Off to get more wood", Kiara answered.

He simply nodded and sat on the ground, looking like he was meditating. Kiara looked to Akito, who returned her gaze and shrugged his shoulders. Then they both got back to work. Kenjiro arrived a few minutes after his brother and a few moments after that Makoto returned as well.

"Alright team, gather", he quickly commanded. They assembled around the firepit and while Makoto began to explain the situation, Kenjiro started a fire. "Our mission is simple; go to the attacked area, kill the Hollows and rescue the villagers. Now before you ask why we are camping here instead of running straight into battle", he said and directed his gaze towards Kiara and Akito, "it's because the Hollows appear sporadically. As in, they suddenly turn up, wreak some havoc and then fuck off to who knows where again. Their attacks have no strict pattern except for that they only attack during the day. That's why we're going to spend the night here and rest. As for battle tactics; the twins and I will focus on fighting, while you two", he nodded to Kiara and Akito again, "will focus on evacuation and rescue of the villagers. Any Questions so far?"

"Yeah actually, I've got one", Akito remarked. "How long have these attacks been happening for now?"

"Acording to our information, about a week", Makoto answered.

"Then why haven't they evacuated themselves already? If the Hollows only appear sporadically, wouldn't that give the villagers a time window in which they could get away?"

"Good question, but it's not that easy. In addition to the attacks the village seems to be surrounded with some kind of sensory field. As soon as somebody tries to leave, it triggers a warning and the Hollows appear. We will go over more detailed battle strategies once we're there, no use in formulating one when we don't know the terrain. Any more questions?"

They all shook their heads.

"Good, then let's get some rest. We'll leave early in the morning."

ooo

_A meadow, surrounded by a forest and shone upon by the blue light of a passing comet in the nightsky that never seemed to move. And in the midst of the forest, a person calling out to her. And yet something was different this time. The person was no longer an unfocused blur._

_Before Kiara stood a girl about her age, with long white hair tied together in a ponytail and a strand of hair falling down on each side of her face. A light brown scarf was wrapped around her head, but she wore it more like a bandanna. Her upper body was covered by a tight shirt of thick fabric and ivory color with no sleeves and on her hands she wore brown fingerless gloves. Her pants were black and a little baggy and it looked they were part of a onepart clothing piece with the upper part being wrapped and tied around the girls waist._

"_You know", just blurred out and didn't even look at Kiara."If you're not gonna start hearing me anytime soon, I'm gonna go crazy. There's literally nothing to do, we have yet to get into a real fight together and most important of it all, there are no damn blueprints in here."_

"_What? What do you mean with "no blueprints"?", Kiara asked confused._

"_I mean there are no blueprints for me to mess around with and-", she suddenly stopped and looked directly at Kiara. "You can understand me?", the girl asked baffled._

"_Yeah, fucking finally. I have been waiting for this for like forever-" She was suddenly interrupted by the spirit that immediately shouted: "MY NAME IS-!"_

_ooo_

And then Kiara woke up. She was breathing a little heavy before a voice to her left resounded.

"Can't sleep?", Akito quietly asked. She turned to his direction and found him staring into the sky whide awake and strangely… calm looking?

"Something like that, yeah", she responded with a sigh after a short while and turned towards the sky as well. "You?"

"Pretty much that." The answer was short and after nothing followed for a while, she turned to him again.

"What is going on with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've been strangely… off ever since we got here."

He turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "Define off."

"As if someone strangled a dog in front of you and then wore it as a festive hat."

"Besides being oddly specific, I wouldn't really say that's how I look."

"Besides being kinda right, you're also wrong. You don't look depressed, but you look too calm for... well, you", she stated bluntly.

He rolled his eyes turned back to the sky and then said: "Ok yeah, I suppose you _could_ say I'm feeling a little bit downthrodden, but it's nothing major, so don't concern yourself with it. Why do you even give a damn anyway?"

"What, am I not allowed to care?", she asked almost a little offended. Maybe it was just the tension at the moment, but it seemed like Akito's usual carefree demeanor was giving way to something more similar to her own daily attitude.

"No, but you're not the type to." Now he was the one to use a blunt tone.

She looked at the sky. "That's not true", she denied.

He turned to her. "Really?"

She turned to him. "Really."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely."

She thought he would continue the conversation and pressure her on that specific topic, but instead he just shrugged his shoulders, said: "If you say so" and turned to the sky again.

She sat up from her sleeping place and rustled some of the leaves spread across the ground. "Why would I not be the type to care? Am I a total bitch to the rest of the world and just don't realize it or what? What makes you think that I don't care about others?"

"I didn't say that."

"Yes you did."

"Okay yeah I did, but what I meant was that I didn't mean it that way.*

"Then how did you mean it?", she persisted.

His eyes darted to her and he raised an eyebrow again. "Is today some kind of role reversal day? Normally I'm the persistent one and you the annoyed one."

"Who knows maybe the stars are aligned or something. Answer the question."

He sighed. "I meant to say that you weren't the type to care for other peoples feelings."

"What makes you say that?"

"Uhhh how about the fact that you never ask people how they are doing? You've never asked me and I've never seen or heard you ask anyone else, that would be if you'd actually try to socialize so one could actually observe whether you would or wouldn't yell anything else at people besides "fuck off"."

"Do I really seem like the kind of person that's so complicated you can't safely deduce whether or not I care about other peoples feeling?", she asked with sincere bewilderment.

"To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what kind of person you are. I know what kind of personality you have, but I don't really know you. You're actually one of the bigger mysteries I've been trying to solve ever since I entered Seireitei."

"Ok I'm not _that_ big of a mystery." He gave her a doubtful look. "Alright, humor me", she then said curiously.

"Six months ago a highranking officer brought you from the lower districts straight to Soul Society and took you under his wing for no apparent reason what so ever. You appearantly have amnesia, but somehow couldn't give less of a damn about it. You say you don't like fighting but then you accept almost every challenge that's thrown your way. You also learn how to fight pretty fast, but you don't really set yourself apart with something you'd be remarkably good at. I have genuinely no idea what you're all about, I can't get a read on you and so on and forth, you get what I mean?"

"Well, I mean if you say it like that", she replied. He just shrugged his shoulders and continued to look up to the stars. She didn't really want to admit it, but his words kind of strung a chord within her. For a longer period of time none of the two said anything until she broke the silence.

"It's not like I don't like fighting", she began slowly. "On the contrary I've come to realize lately that I actually do enjoy it. It's just that- whenever you like doing something and then you do it excessively and sometimes not even out of your own free will, you grow tired of it. I've been in Seireitei for a little more than half a year now, but to be honest there's not really a lot that I actually enjoy doing. Yes, there's fighting, but the longer I do that in excess the more tedious it becomes. I like learning new things and improving on them but I can never really do that because I rarely have some alone time for myself. I accept most challenges because I have a rather unhealthy need to prove myself. That and because I hope that I'm left alone afterwards. Not that that ever happens."

She laid back down and stared at the sky again. "One thing is as it seems though. The fact that I lost my memory doesn't really bother me, no. I don't even know how I died and I think that's a good thing. If I knew at least one or two details about my life in the human world I might constantly be bothered by it because then I'd want to know everything, but I don't, so I'm not. I don't really know what I lost through dying and if I try to go dig up my past I might just open up a pandoras box. I live here now, I have something that resembles a goal which is to become a Shingami and honestly, that's all I wanna focus on for the moment."

"You sure that you're not the least bit curious? Or that you might just be running away from it because you're afraid of qhat you might find if you start digging?"

"Absolutely. I'm not curious or afraid and it doesn't matter", she said and sounded way more confident than she actually was. Was he actually right? Was Kiara just running away from the answer because she was scared of them?

"I guess that's one way to look at it", Akito interrupted her inner debate. "But I've got a different question for you though; if you don't like doing things in excess, why have you been training with me on a constant basis lately?"

"Weeeeeeell", she started with a little guilt in her tone. "Whenever I'm training or fighting somebody, people usually leave me to my own devices. You're kind of an okay guy and a good sparring partner when Makoto wasn't around, so I guess I was… kind of… using you as a means to avoid everybody else?", she confessed.

Shit, hopefully she didn't hurt him with that, but hearing herself say it like that really made her sound like an asshole. She closed one of her her eyes in anticipation of him getting angry about it, but he said nothing.

"I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to hurt you if I did", she quickly apologized.

"Nah, it's alright", he immediately responded. "Glad I could help." He turned around and showed her his back. "We should try to get some sleep now, I'm pretty sure tomorrow is not gonna be easy and we need all the strength we can get."

"Yeah you're right", she said and facepalmed. That went about as well as her early sparring matches against Makoto. She tried to shake of the guilt that had wallowed up inside her, but failed utterly, so she eventually turned to the side as well and tried to get some more sleep.

ooo

"_She's a real charmer."_ Susanoo's voice echoed amused within Makotos head.

"Yeah", Makoto dryly whispered.

"_And the way she thinks about her past certainly complicates things. You sure you still wanna tell her how she died?"_

"Might even do it after this mission. Now that I know, I shouldn't really wait any longer, now should I? The longer she continues with that mindset, the worse it's gonna be when I do tell her. There's no point in waiting it out any longer."

_"You don't need to do this just yet."_

"Of course I do. I owe it to her."

_"You owe it to her, or you owe it to yourself?"_

"Both. I don't want to live the rest of my life knowing that I keep lying to her while she sees me as someone she can look up to and I don't want her to live the rest of her live relying on somebody that's not honest with her."

"_You know, sometimes ignorance is bliss",_ Susanoo said a little more concerned than usual.

"Yeah, probably. But the truth is everyones right. I might break something with it that would possibly never recover, but let's be honest here, I deserve whatever is coming my way."

"_Can't argue with that. But hey", he said with a more optimistic tone. "We're in this together since the beginning. We'll finish it just the same way, even if that just consists of me bullying you out of depression after you dod the dirty work."_

"Thanks buddy", Makoto said with a smile and closed his eyes.

ooo

Kiara opened her eyes and realized somebody woke her up. She grunted and sat up, just to see that the sun hadn't even risen yet. Everybody else was already awake and well rested. Kenjiro walked over to her from the fire with a cup in his hands. He kneeled down to her and gave her the cup. "Drink this, it helps shake off morning grumpiness. It also kinda wakes you up, so", he said with a smirk.

She grimaced sinisterly at him, much to his amusement. She took the cup and put a finger into it to check the temperature. It was warm, but not hot, so she took a sip.

"Careful", Kenjiro quickly tried to add, but she had already taken a gulp and her tongue was assaulted with an unpleasant taste. "It's pretty bitter." He smiled sheepishly while she shot him an annoyed look. "You should hurry up with that though, we're leaving in a few."

She hurried up with the tea (which didn't really help with the taste) and got ready to go. Everybody else seemed already set for departure, save for Kenjiro who was throwing dirt on the fire to put it out. Then he walked to Kiara, put his arm around her and turned to Makoto. "Ready."

Wordless, Makoto nodded, turned around and disappeared. Kenjiro and Hiroshi followed his example. The world around Kiara became a whirling stream of colors again, steadily interrupted by small stops.

The rest of their travel wasn't nearly as long as it had been on the day before (thank god), but instead it simply took a couple of hours until they arrived at their destination. And when they did Kiara began to feel pretty uncomfortable.

She had gotten glimpses of what villages looked like in the lower districts, but this was taking things up to the next level. Houses looked like they were barely stable enough to withstand normal rain, much less a storm and that was only the ones that were actually still standing. Others were more akin to ruins than anything else.

The group was still a good distance away from the village, right on the border of a forest, but Kiara could almost taste the despair from their current location. She took a quick look around to see if she was the only one and just chickening out, but as soon as she laid eyes on Akito, she realized that whatever unease she felt right now paled in comparison to the shock on his face.

And apparently, she wasn't the only one that had noticed. "Like I said kid", Makoto began and turned to Akito. "Nobody's gonna blame you if you turn around."

Akitos face slowly moved from horrified shock to something that could only be described as angry determination. "I will", he said with a sinister tone. Makoto raised his eyebrows to that comment for a bit, but then nodded to it and turned to Hiroshi.

"Alright then. Hiroshi, you're the Kido expert. How fast can you check the area and tell me what exactly is going on?"

"Two or three minutes", the twin responded. He began to draw lines of Spiritual energy in the air which took a rectangular shape and several symbols appeared on the edges of what seemed similar to a screen.

By looking through that screen, everything looked different. The landscape no longer appeared in colors, but was instead framed by energy lines. And around the village itself was a gigantic web of lines, entangled within one another, which resulted in them looking like a sphere.

"I'll go around to check if there are any weaknesses in the structure of the energy field." And with those words, he disappeared.

"Kenjiro, how much tactical education did you receive before you left the Onmitsukido?"

"I'd say a moderate amount", Kenjiro responded.

Makoto nodded. "What advantages would you say we have over the Hollows?"

Without a single word, Kenjiro disappeared. Makoto wasn't phased by this at all, much to Kiaras perplexion. She was about to say something, but then Kenjiro reappeared again.

"I'd say that the terrain is our biggest pro. The buildings aren't exactly stable, but as long as they do stand, we can maneuver through them and confuse the enemy. That's gonna come in handy when we evacuate the villagers. The damaged and destroyed buildings are also gonna be pretty neat, since we can hide under some of the rubble. We should only do that with houses that have completely crashed though, or else one that is still half intact might just kick the bucket while we're hiding in it. It's a risk we can't take. Judging from the damage that's been dealt to the houses and streets, we can also say with some certainty that the attackers aren't that large in size or have that high of an attack power."

He turned to Makoto. "But that leads me to the cons. The unknown factors. We can assume the enemies are small and weak, but we can't be absolutely sure. We also don't know their numbers, we don't know if they have any special abilities or if they have aid from an outside source. I don't wanna assume anything here but uhhhm… it wouldn't be the first time a Shinigami has put Hollows to use for his own ends."

"So there's a high possibility this could be a trap", Makoto mumbled to himself. He glanced at Kiara and clicked his tongue. Right in that moment, Hiroshi appeared right next to Makoto.

"Reporting my conclusions", he said directed towards Makoto.

"Go ahead", the latter responded.

"We're dealing with something similar to a forcefield. It tracks movement inside its parameter and Spiritual energy signatures, but it's not exactly a real field. It's more like a really closely knit web of strings with a dome like shape that reaches high up into the sky. I couldn't really make out how far, but even if we knew that, we couldn't get inside from the top."

Makoto squinted his eyes. "And why is that?", he asked cautiously.

"At the top of the dome is a Garganta", Hiroshi stated bluntly.

"God damn cheap son of a bitch", Makoto cussed. He put his hand on his chin and seemed deeply fixated on finding a solution, while Kiara was finding herself to be completely fucking lost.

"Sorry for having to be the newbie, but what's a Garganta?", she asked shyly.

"To give you the quick version, it's basically a pocket dimension through which Hollows travel to the human world and very rarely to Soul Society." Makoto's answer was pretty monotone, almost as if he was on autopilot while putting his entire focus on the invisible problem in front of them.

"You said it's a net, right?", Kenjiro asked slowly.

"Yeah. A tightly knit web", Hiroshi answered.

"Could you temporarely change the webbing? Make it disappear?", Kenjiro suggested.

"No", his brother answered. "Like I said, the net tracks physical movement and Spiritual energy. We can neither change its composition, strength, attributes, nor its… shape." Hiroshi said that last word as if it he had reached some form of enlightenment from it.

"Makoto-sama. I think I could be able to alter the shape of the net for short periods of time. That way we can make a way for one or two of us to get inside, get the villagers out and be out of here before the enemy even shows up."

"Elaborate", Makoto simply said.

"I can subtly add my own Reiatsu to the net over time and acclimate it. Once it's used to the new component, I think I can temporarely manipulate its shape."

"That could work", Makoto nodded, still with his hand on his chin. "You sure you can pull that off?"

"Absolutely", Hiroshi said.

"How long would you need for that?"

"Half an hour, maybe more. The tricky part will be to cast it subtly without being detected."

"Good", Makoto deduced. "Then I've got another question for you. How good are you with light manipulation Kido?"

The twin blinked. "Light manipulation? I'm afraid I don't understand what-"

"This energy field over there", Makoto interrupted him and pointed towards the village, "may not just mean that they can sense us, it could also mean that they can see us. So let's just assume that everything goes according to plan, which it hopefully will, and they don't realize their field is being tampered with. It could still happen that they, whoever _they_ are, take a look out of pure curiosity and then see us. Then all our plans go out the window. And that might just happen during or, even worse, before our rescue attempt. I'd kinda like a contingency plan in case that happens. In short, I'm asking if you can create an invisible tunnel that leads straight to the forest", Makoto said and pointed behind himself with his thumb while facing the village.

Hiroshi nodded and put his hand on his chin in deep thought.

"I should be able to do it. Light refraction is not my speciality, but it's possible."

"That's good", Makoto nodded

Kiara whistled acknowlegdingly. "I didn't know you were this much of a strategist."

"I didn't get to the 4th seat with pure luck you know", he said and winked at her. Then he turned to Hiroshi. "Please take care of the tunnel right now. In case things go south I want to have at least that."

"Understood." The twin sat down and began mumbling some vague incantation.

"In the meantime", Maktoto continued to the rest of the team, "let's go over battle tactics. If everything works according to plan, we won't really need it, but it's always good to have a back-up." He signaled everyone to gather in front of him. "Like I said yesterday already, Kenjiro, Hiroshi and I would be drawing the attention to ourselves. All the battles will most likely be on the ground. Just because the Garganta is up in the sky doesn't mean new ones on the ground can't open. I'm guessing most of the people will be residing within the intact houses, so we'll try to keep the fighting among the ruins, if we have to fight. Kiara and Akito, you two will guide the villagers out in the meantime. In case we will have to do it that way, you will always act as a team and never separated. Lead everyone out and to the tunnel, then get to safety. We'll do the rest."

"Hey, that's not fair. We can fight too", Akito protested.

"Not against something like that. Have you ever seen a Hollow before kid?", Makoto asked.

"No", Akito answered, slightly uncertain.

"Just trust me on this; you are way too early to fight one of those things. Both of you", he said and also looked to Kiara. "Neither of you went to the academy and while you are formidable fighters already when compared to others, you need to be more than that to face something like a Hollow. Just stick to rescue, the three of us will take care of the rest."

He turned around to the twin that was sitting on the ground and waited until he finished his spell, then he signaled him to take the lead and put his arm around Kiara to carry her via Shunpo. Kenjiro did the same with Akito and then they carefully approached the invisible dome.

They stopped about 10 meters in front of the village where Hiroshi signaled them to wait. He took a few steps to their left and cast a strange red smoke on the ground. The smoke disappeared, leaving a red stain on the grass. "This is the entrance to the tunnel I cast back there. It goes all the way to this spot", he said, directed towards the rest of the group. "The only thing you have to do is show it to the rescued people, they can figure the rest of the way out themselves without accidentally passing through the invisble walls." Then he slowly approached the invisible barrier and got to work. The way it looked was actually quite fascinating. Hiroshi's output was very restrained, so his Reiatsu looked more like a feint mist.

It touched the field in various places and made it looke like spiderwebs were randomly appearing out of thin air. It looked like everything was going well. Kiara knew it was premature, but she allowed herself to take a relieved breath. Only to get the feeling that she jinxed it with that.

Suddenly, the visible parts of the field trembled with unorthodox twitching movements. It made a very high pitched noise, making it sound like the net itself was screaming.

What followed next were entirely different screams though. Screams Kiara had never heard before. Screams that crawled under her skin and gave her goosebumps. As if something rotten and evil had come creeping out of its hole to bring death and destruction over anything that crossed its path, simply because it could.

"Holy shit…", Kenjiro whispered next to her. She turned towards him and noticed he was gazing at the sky.

She looked up to the sky as well and shuddered. Several dozen literal monsters were raining down on the village. Gross and with dirty colors, furr, feathers and strange extra limbs with even stranger proportions. But they all had something in common; a white mask on their face and a hole in the middle of their chests.

"So that's what a Hollow looks like", she mumbled to herself. Everything else that happened after this point happened incredibly fast. Almost simultaneously, Makoto and the twins drew their blades.

"Hiroshi, fucking blast that dome to kingdom come", Makoto demanded. "If it's not there, we can't be trapped or sensed, now DO IT!"

"Yes sir", Hiroshi answered and put his hand upp in the air, reciting some sort of chant at an incredibly fast rate. He finished after about ten seconds and yelled out loud: "Hado 63: Raikoho!"

A large orb of lightning erupted from his palm and shot towards the invisible energy field. It collided with a blinding explosion, followed by a shockwave.

"This was a damned trap from the very start", Makoto said and turned around to Kiara and the rest. "The original plan is fucked, we gotta improvise. With numbers as high as those up there, we absolutely cannot let the fight get to the ground. Kenjiro, Hiroshi, you two are coming with me. Use high level Kido, forbidden Onmitsukido techniques, I don't care what it is as long as it keeps them in the air. You two", he pointed to Kiara and Akito. "Lead the villagers out of here as fast as you can. Keep close to the intact buildings and use the narrow streets as cover. As soon as the last one is save you get the hell out of here, we'll take care of the rest."

He didn't leave any room for questions or objections, he simply went straight into the battle field. The twins followed his example and left the two young novices standing there in shock.

"Come on Kiara", Akito said after a while and mostly shook her out of her paralysis. "We need to go."

Still slightly dazed, she looked at him and saw that his left hand was at the sheath of his sword. Then she remembered how Makoto and the twins had drawn theirs before going into battle.

Battle. That's what they were in the middle of right now. And there was no going back. "Yeah", she said with newfound conviction and drew her own blade. "Let's go."

ooo

As they were running down the streets, the two apprentices could see more and more Hollows fall down from the sky towards the battlefield. They could also see Makoto and the twins doing everything in their power to keep the Hollows in the air while fighting there themselves. They were slicing down one monster after the other, but they just kept coming.

Hiroshi resorted to Kido blasts from time to time while Kenjiro used Shunpo to jump around from one enemy to the next, quickly killing them at a very even pace. Makoto had been flexing his Reiatsu from very the start of the battle and was sometimes just using brute force. Kiara could clearly see how he grabbed one of the ugly monsters by the face and threw it into another one with his bare hand.

_Focus_, she scolded herself. Her part in this mission was not to be wowed by the mayhem going on up above, but to tend to the rescue. That was all she could do for the moment.

She and Akito kept close together, pressing themselves against the houses as they were moving through the ruins while checking the barracks through the windows if anybody was inside. She was currently overlooking an almost fully intact lodge when she heard him whistle. He pointed towards some rubble on the ground and on closer inspection Kiara could see that some parts of it wasn't actually rubble, but human limbs. She almost threw up, but then she noticed that the limbs weren't bleeding. And moving. She took a few seconds to realize htat some of the people had actually disguised themselves as rubble in order to survive.

_Crafty_, she thought to herself.

Akito whistled towards the camouflaged residents and got their attention. He signed them to come over, but was met with some resisitance. Frustrated, he resorted to a more… energetic approach and signaled them again, this time with more suggestive signs. He also pointed to the sky, himself and the saferoute out of the village, and although the locals were a bit offended, they began to make slow but steady efforts to move.

Akito hastily looked back and forth between the village folk and the ongoing fight in the air up above. Kiara was already anxious herself and the agonizingly slow moving people didn't really help with that. Said people mimicked Kiara and Akito by pressing themselves on the walls of still standing houses on the other side of the street.

One after another, they quickly ran over to the other side and soon Akito signaled Kiara to move back the way they came. They built a single line with Kiara as the head and Akito as the tail. Step after step, house after house they safely made their way back unnoticed. As soon as they got out Kiara looked for the red spot in the grass and led the people there. She quickly sent them in one after another until they kinda got the gist of it and did the rest themselves.

The two novices turned around and went back into the city while the mayhem above them continued to get more chaotic by the minute. They kept close to the walls again, but hurried up given the situation up above.

Most of the buildings they came across were empty, while others had a foul smell coming out of them when Kiara took a peak inside to check for survivors. Kiara didn't think much about it and attributed it to the poor hygene in the lower districts, but she realized pretty fast that that assumption was very very wrong when she saw the first corpse.

At first she had thought of it as a villager hiding in fear and not being able to move out of shock. She had signaled Akito with a whistle and together they had entered the house through the front door, ready to save the next victim.

Now, she was the one who wasn't able to move out of shock. She was standing in a simple room with no walls or separations, a simple one room apartement. When she had just taken a peak inside before, most of it had been obscured by shadow, but now that the front door was open, light was able to enter. And present Kiara with a body of a dead person.

A blood trail was leading from the entrance door to one of his legs. Or, more accurately described, where one of his legs should have been. Instead, there was only a short, rotting stump. There were no clean cuts or signs of a clinical amputation and the leg looked like it had been violently ripped off its owner.

Kiara's stomach seriously rebelled at that sight and she had to throw up. Panting, she leaned herself at the wall for a few seconds. Strangley enough, Akito was much more calm than she was. He didn't lose his mind, he didn't hyperventilate, he didn't even grimace at the foul smell. He just stood there with a sad glance in his eyes.

When he spoke, he didn't seem shaken up or angry, he was just calm. "Come on, we gotta get going." He walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder for a few moments until she thankfully nodded and stood upright again, still breathing a little heavy. He nodded as well and took the lead again while exiting the house.

They eventually managed to find a few more survivors, but from that point on out Kiara almost had to force herself to go into a house again. Everytime they entered a building she readied herself for the worst and expected to see a decomposing, lifeless body again. To her relief, they found more surviors first, so they had to turn around again to guide them to the outside borders and into the invisible tunnel.

While she was still recovering from her initial shock, Akito seemed to do fairly fine all things considered. Sure, he was tense because the battle began to sound more like an all out war. Explosions (probably from Kido spells) happened more often the longer they fought and severed limbs and dead corpses began to hit the village, especially the sections in the ruins. Everytime Kiara looked up she could see body parts coming down and most of the time they began to erode into dust even before they hit the ground. Even so, some were just falling too fast and so they still did some damage before disappearing into thin air.

And still, through all of that, no matter how strange the raining down limbs looked, no matter how loud the explosions got or how many times they passed buildings with that suspicious foul smell, Akito stayed strangely calm. As a matter of fact, Akito was behaving rather strange in general.

His cheery personality was gone, but not like Makoto. Makoto just seemed like he knew he had to be serious and that was all there was to it. Akito was almost like an entirely different person. She wanted to continue that train of thought but was interrupted as a large body hit the ground right next to them.

Anxious, she turned towards the corpse, sword at the ready. It was dark, bare skinned and had body shape reminiscent of an ape, but with wildly different proportions. It didn't move for a couple of seconds and she was already letting out a sigh of relief, already turning around to the scared villagers, when she saw the Hollow twitch from the edge of her vision. She hurled around, took a step back and sided next to Akito, who was also on high alert with his hand on his sword. And then the Hollow growled in pain.

It was still alive.

A huge bleeding cross wound was clearly visible on its back, but despite all that it still struggled its way back up on its feet. Then the Hollow looked into their direction and the malice in its eyes let Kiara freeze all over again.

The Hollow howled an echoey roar and reached for the group of people, but everything came to a standstill when a Spiritual pressure from somewhere up above suddenly exploded and paralyzed every person on the ground merely by existing.

ooo

"As soon as the last one is save you get the hell out of here, we'll take care of the rest", Makoto commanded the two novices and turned around. He didn't want to give them a window to start arguing, so he immediately used Shunpo to get up into the sky, closely followed by the twins.

**(Bleach OST: Power to strive extended)**

Makoto didn't waste a second and released his Reiatsu right away. "Whatever happens", he said to the twins while not facing away from the threat at hand, "we cannot let any of those get through to the kids. They are not prepared for this. Use any means necessary, but try to avoid using Shikai if possible. Everyone down there could be frozen in place from the pressure and lose valuable time."

"Yes sir", the both of them answered at once.

And with that, Makoto headed straight into the fray. He pushed himself off from the Reishi he concentrated under his feet and flew towards the Hollows. A few of them came at him, which he all disposed of with quick, strong slashes. His sword got stuck in the last one and a spider like Hollow tried to exploit that opening, but to no success.

Makoto simply grabbed it by the head and threw it into another one that was coming at him from above. He ripped his sword out of the Hollow it got stuck in with brute force, made sure to check if he was above the ruin part of the village and sent the Hollow flying down with an axekick.

One was trying to attack him from below and Makoto cut off all its limbs to incapacitate it before slashing its mask in half. The next one was trying to come at him from a blind spot, but he recognized it just in time to shunpo behind it and vertically slice it in half. Two were attacking him from both sides in an attempt to cut off his escape. He responded by jumping towards one and shoving his sword deep into its skull like mask, shattering it in the process. Then he turned around, used Shunpo to get above the other and shredded its head to pieces.

While he was making quick work of every single one of the attackers, the twins were contributing their fare share as well.

Kenjiro was using Shunpo at a constant pace, jumping from one enemy to the next. His Zanpakutou wasn't a traditional Katana, but instead two Wakizashis, which he held in reverse grip. His fighting style was quick and effective, never wasting more than a few seconds to create and exploit an opening from his enemy. Makoto smiled. Just as expected from a former Onmitsukido member.

Meanwhile, his brother also showcased a fighting style fitting to the unit he previously belonged to. Hiroshi effortlessly weaved the usage of Kido into his combat style, taking out every third Hollow with a Hado technique in the 30 levels and below, laying traps to temporarily stun and incapacitate the attackers, which were partially taken advantage of by his brother.

The two made a pretty good team.

The fight went on for a while and things were going fairly well all things considered, so Makoto kicked into overdrive for a few seconds to take out as many Hollows as possible to buy himself some time. He copied Kenjiro for a bit and used Shunpo to jump around various Hollows, but instead of letting them make mistakes he just powered through their defenses with violence.

After he created some space, he took a few moments to check on the situation below. He felt several Spiritual signatures on the move, recognizing Akito and Kiara among them.

The rescue was coming along. So far so good. He directed his attention towards the battle again and looked up to the giant Garganta several hundred meters above. His optimism disappeared. They had taken out a very good amount of Hollows already, but from what it looked like there were now even more than before.

"God dammit, what the hell is on the other side of that gateway, a friggin' army?"

He klicked his tongue and went right back at it. Since they just kept coming, he started to resort to Kido as well. He didn't want to waste his Reiryoku, so he just used Hado spells around the 30 levels, like Hiroshi.

The twins must have noticed the increase in numbers as well and were responding accordingly, especially Hiroshi, who was basically spamming Hado number 31: Shakkahou like there was no tomorrow.

Kenjiro resorted more to Bakudo spells that hindered the enemys vision or mobility and occasionally a Hado spell, but he still mostly focused on his Onmitsukido techniques.

And so the battle went on for another while. The increase in numbers made itself noticeable especially in the attack patterns, as most of the monstrocities kept attacking from all sides at once.

Makoto was beginning to have difficulties, as all his openings and escape routes kept being cut off, but he had a method of how to deal with those situations.

_Just focus on one,_ he thought to himself and remembered the training from his old man. _If you're surrounded, just attack one and you have your breach._

He jumped towards the Hollow in front of him and slashed through its head like it was butter.

_Then just work your way around and keep erasing their opportunities to circle you._

In theory, this always worked out pretty well. The key was to be fast enough to take out that first enemy. If he could break through the circle the hardest part was already done.

The problem was that the Hollows kept filling out the gaps he created. Everytime he killed one and mowed his way through the others in front of him, others took the place of their fallen kin and attacked him from behind, interrupting his rythm and forcing him to start all over again.

"Just a few Hollows my ass", he yelled after he chopped two Hollows at once in front of him and blasted the ones behind him away with Hado 33: Soukatsui. "What kind of intel were the higher ups recording here?", he continued shouting at the Hollows he killed.

Another wave of monstrosities tried to encircle him again, but he had enough. He began whirling around his Zanpakutou with overwhelming speed, while gathering a good amount of Reiryoku in it and performed an overhead swing to enable a special technique.

"Hado 58 modified: Tenran Tasumaki!"

Normally, Hado 58 createdd a tornado right in front of the user, but not Makotos modified version. This new application of the spell created a whirlwind sphere with the user at its center, suited for battling enemys of high numbers. And the technique was very effective.

The Hollows around Makoto were blasted away and his field was suddenly clear again. The reason why he hadn't used this spell before already was because the Hollows were blasted in every direction, which also included the direction of ground. He quickly checked how many Hollows had been blasted towards the village, raised his Spiritual pressure and rocketed down to eliminate them. He luckily reached all of them in time and managed to kill every single one of them with precise blows to their mask, so that the only thing that would reach the ground was their lifeless bodies.

He quickly turned his attention to the sky again and was about to shunpo into the horde of monsters when he saw it.

Kenjiro was currently pushed into a corner and had too many enemys to get a clear shot at their heads, which lead to one of them falling down towards the intact section of the village, wounded, but not dead.

He was on the other side of that village and knew he would never make it in time, not like this. He knew what this meant especially since he could feel Kiara being right at the crash site of the stray Hollow.

"Reign over trickery", he commanded while raising his Zanpakutou over his head.

"Susanoo!"

ooo

Kiara couldn't move. Instantly, it was like the air around her got ten times thinner, it was that hard to breathe. And it was not like that just for her. Every person present had faces strained with exertion as they tried to keep breathing. Including the Hollow.

And then something rocketed down into the Hollows body like a shooting star. A tiny shockwave knocked her and everyone else away and she fell down to the ground. The pressure on her entire body suddenly got smaller and she found herself able to move again. She struggled back on her feet again and turned her attention towards the settling dustcloud. Slowly but surely, a Shingami uniform became visible, with smaller details like a yellow waistband waving in the wind, tattooed arms and brown hair.

Makoto. But something was wildly different about him. He was giving off an oppressive presence so strong Kiara could have sworn she could feel his conviction and willpower almost crushing her. And that was not the only thing. Makoto was no longer fighting with a standard Katana anymore.

No, the blade he ripped out of the Hollows back and used to chop its head into pieces was definetly no Katana. Instead, it was a thick black great sword with silver edges and several silver encarvings on it.

_His Shikai,_ she thought to herself, amazed by the sight despite the dire situation.

He put his sword on his shoulder and turned towards her and the rest of the group. "Everyone okay?", he asked as he effortlessly jumped down from the eroding carcass.

"Ye-yeah, we're fine" Kiara stuttered and turned around just to be sure. "Right?"

"We're alright", Akito groaned as an answer.

"Good. Kiara, Akito, release you Reiatsu. It'll help you move. How many were you able to evacuate?"

"About 15 people so far, the ones present not accounted for"; Akito answered.

Makoto looked like he was about to say something, but stopped and took a quick moment to think. He closed his eyes and after a few seconds he said: "Wait right here", then he disappeared.

Not long after, he reappeared again with two children on each shoulder. He let them down to the ground safely, then he shunpoed away again. He did that about three or four more times which led to an assembly of about 25 vilagers in total, some covered in dust, some injured, but all of them alive.

"Those are all I could find. Originally, I was gonna let you handle the rescue, but there's no end to the Hollows, so I'm speeding things up a bit", he said, specifically towards Kiara, probably because he assumed she was about to ask a snappy question. "Just in case you wondered why I didn't do that in the first place little one", he said with a faint smile and winked at her, but quickly fell back into his serious attitude.

"Now get all of them away and go with them through the tunnel, things are getting seriously out of hand here-" He interrupted himself again, but this time not because he was thinking about something. He had turned his attention back towards the battle mid conversation and from the looks of it, he was startled by something.

Kiara followed his line of sight and saw that the giant Garganta above them was getting smaller at a rapid pace until it disappeared entirely. Kiara felt a small wave of relief coming from Makoto and allowed herself to relax a little. Now that the gateway was closed, there would be no futher reinforcements, meaning that the end of this battle would finally be in reach.

The initial small feeling of safety didn't last long though. The first thing that disrupted it was a Hollow scream from ground level that was close to their initial location. Dangerously close. Then another one. And another one. Several Hollows were crying out and from the sound of it, they were coming closer.

Had this many already made it past the twins? Kiara checked the sky to see if there were more raining down, but there weren't. Makoto suddenly got anxious again, jumped several meters up in the air and began pacing around in mid air. He looked around in every direction and his eyes kept getting wider.

"Run", she could hear him whisper in fear. Then he turned towards her and the group of people and said it again, this time louder.

"Run!"

**Author's Notes:**

Actually there are no notes on this one. I mean yeah, I could go ahead and dig into it, but I'll reveal my thoughts in the next one, seeing as this is a double-feature, which is totally me releasing these things the way I want them to and totally not me putting out a double feature because I feel sorry for the two people who actually read and want to read this story and wait themselves half dead and think this story is dead because I take months to update. (I love you by the way, thanks for giving me that one view more per month that keeps me going).

Also thanks to all of you who keep being patient and don't just throw this out the window because you have to wait insufferably long. My update schedule** (scoffs internally) **is extremely frustrating, I know.


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter 22: The mission part 2

"Run!", Makoto shouted at the group of people standing below him. When the Garganta above him had disappeared he thought it would be acceptable to relax a bit, but he had been very, very wrong. Now instead of one big one in the sky, six smaller ones had suddenly appeared on ground level.

But the pile of shit Makoto found himself in just kept stacking and stacking, because while the Garagnta above him was gone, the army certainly wasn't. That meant the twins had to deal with that threat themselves, leaving him alone to deal with the Hollows down here.

Which in and on itself wouldn't be a problem, if he also wouldn't have to make sure he had all the attention so the others could get away undetected. "Might as well ask me to reason with captain Zaraki", he muttered to himself pissed.

"_Now now, it won't be that hard",_ he heard the voice of his Zanpakutou in his head. _"With your current Reiatsu level you're practically born to be bait."_

"Inspiring as per usual buddy."

"_At your service", _his partner retorted and Makoto could almost hear his smirk.

"Got any actual advice for me?"

"_To be honest, I'd raise the pressure even more, it would upgrade you from bait to straight up magnet, but then the kids are gonna be crawling on all fours. Let's just make some noise for now and make sure the attention stays on us."_

Makoto smiled. "Shouldn't be a problem."

He jumped up a few more meters to make himself plainly visible, then he shouted: "Yo Hollow scum! I'm up here you little shits. A tasty, juicy little snack waiting for you to eat me!"

He didn't have to wait very long until the first Hollow came out of hiding and jumped up from the labyrinth of buildings to respond to his very tempting invitation. _"Well that was easy_", Susanoo snickered.

It was. In fact it was almost as easy as dispatching of that very Hollow. With the current strength Makoto was at it only took a single strike to disfigure the monsters entire body and face. It fell to the ground and immediately began to fall apart and dissolve.

The next few Hollows followed the first one's example, both in methods of attack and death. He went like that for several minutes, just waiting for Hollows to attack him and then killing them. After a while, he managed to create a window for himself and check on Kiara and Akito.

They were almost at the entrance point for the invisible tunnel. Additionally, the six Garganta on ground level suddenly disappeared, just as quickly as they had opened. For a moment Makoto got worried and feared more would just reopen somewhere else, but nothing happened. He was a bit sceptic at first, but the longer he went on while continuing to take care of the Hollows that kept coming at him, the more he felt reassured. Their numbers kept going down more and more and after a quick scan of the area, he knew for sure that there were no more pathways through which reinforcements could come through.

Makoto breathed a sigh of relief and immediately cursed himself for believing they had been through the worst. Again. Somehow, he got the feeling his attitude was too optimistic for this day. A very familiar feeling ran down his back. A cold and unpleasant sensation that someone was watching him.

"_Yo Mak-"_

"Yeah, I know. _He'_s here. I don't know where but he's definetly here." He looked around frantically, trying to get a visual on the enemy he had confronted about half a year ago, while casually slaughtering the last of the Hollows that tried to get the jump at him.

"_Got one positive though. The girl and the others should have made it out by now."_

"Yeah they have, I can feel it. They made it into the tunnel. We gotta give the twins a heads up, so that they can go Shikai and-" An ice cold shudder ran through his entire body. Someone or some_thing_ was behind him. Something with a frighteningly dark and yet familiar aura… Out of pure instinct, he used Shunpo to jump forward a few meters and immediately turned around…

…to see a hooded figure standing in front of him. The _very same_ hooded figure who he had fought six months ago when he had stolen the Garganta equipment from the research derpartment. His face was obscured by a mask of cloth, while a desert brown mantle was hiding almost all of his features.

"Who are you?, he asked after a few very tense seconds. The hooded figure gave no answer. "Who are you!?", he asked again, this time with more intensity.

"You don't need to know that", the hooded figure finally answered.

"Well excuse my persistence, but I disagree", Makoto said with a sturdy smile. The kids were gone now and he took full advantage of that by upping his Spiritual pressure by a significant amount. He took a fighting stance and tried to calm himself, to moderate success.

"_First things first Mak. Get up to the twins, tell them they can go full power. We just have to hold out for a bit with this guy and then it'll be three on one."_

"Yeah, you're right." He slowly shifted his feet to get in a more convenient jumping position. The hooded figure tilted his head a little and took out an arm with a deformed Zanpakutou from underneath his mantle. The blade was pretty broad and had a dark, almost black color with a reddish glow in the middle section and had more resemblance to a saber than a Katana.

_He's in Shikai already. _

That would be a problem, especially since hte 4th seat still didn't know said shikai's special ability. Makoto blinked and shook his head. He could focus on details later, first he had to get to the twins. A drop of sweat was running down his face and as soon as it dropped of his chin, he jumped up towards the twins as fast as he could, but immediately had to stop.

The hooded figure had used Shunpo to get above him and cut him off half way. "I won't let you do that", he simply said and took at wild swing at Makoto. The latter blocked it with his sword and instantly countered with a barrage of slash attack himself.

Sparks flew through the air as every single one of his attacks was blocked by the opponent. However, Makoto was still able to throw him off with an especially powerful strike, catapulting his enemy away a few meters. He used the short time window to prepare a Kido attack. He quickly focused his Reiryoku in the palm of his left hand, where it materialized into energy in the outside world by becoming Reiatsu and fired it off. "Hado 33: Soukatsui!"

That attack should have hit at point blank range. He used the opportunity to circle around the hooded figure and just used Shunpo to cover the rest of the way, but his enemy caught up with him once again.

_Damn it, did that Kido blast not hit him?_

They were both flying upwards side by side and his opponent wound up for another slash at him. He backed away and charged another Kido blast, but he wasn't fast enough.

This time it was the hooded figure that circled around him via Shunpo and tried to stab him in the back. He used the flat side of his great sword as a shield and put it diagonally over his back. He felt the attack connect with his blade, held it in place and whirled around, all the while never stopping to charge his Reiryouku for another Kido blast.

"Hado 58: Tenran!"

He blasted the hooded figure at point blank range once again and this time, he clearly saw how his enemy was blown away. He didn't waste a single moment, immediately turned around and jumped up to where the twins were at. "Kenjiro, Hiroshi!", he yelled to get their attention. "Go Shikai!"

Those two words were more than enough to communicate the message and both their Spiritual pressures skyrocketed almost instantly. Makoto didn't wait to watch them do that though, he put his focus right back to where his enemy was blasted to-

Correction, should have been blasted to. He wasn't there. On high alert, Makoto checked every direction, but didn't feel anything. Not until his opponent appeared right next to him. Makoto turned around and was surprised to see his enemy having prepared his own Kido blast. Except it wasn't Kido.

The Reiatsu he was reading was far too dark and twisted to have been the Reiatsu of a Shinigami. The hooded figure fired his blast at him and Makoto was barely able to react, evading the attack at the very last second.

He gained some distance and readied himself for another incoming attack, but the hooded figure remained where he was, almost surprised that Makoto wasn't hit by a point blank blast attack.

"That attack just now", Makoto panted, "was a Cero, wasn't it?"

No response.

"It's alright, you don't have to answer", he continued and recovered from his initial shock. "I know I'm right." He straightenend his back and took a more neutral fighting stance. "Do tell, how come a Shinigami resorts to Ceros rather than Kido?"

Still no response.

_Alright, let's try a different question._ "Half a year ago, somebody with an identical get-up stole something from the research department. That was you, right? What were you doing there?"

"In what way does it concern you?", the hooded figure countered.

"_We don't know if he recognizes us. Don't tell him you were there that night. The fewer people know the better",_ Susanoo warned him.

"In no particular one", Makoto said with a smirk. Finally, a response. "I'm just nosy, that's all."

"Well, you know what they say", the hooded figure began. "Curiosity killed the cat."

"Lucky me then", Makoto managed to utter before his opponent vanished into thin air. Makoto didn't see him reappear anywhere, but he had a suspicion and readied himself. As if on cue, the hooded figure appeared behind him, to which Makoto responded with the same maneuver and shunpoed behind his enemy.

"I'm not a damn cat." He attacked with a downwards swing, which was blocked by his opponent. For a few seconds they were locked in a struggle to overpower the other, which the hooded figure broke off right before Makoto was able to push him away. He tried to run and gain some distance, but Makoto wouldn't let him. He engaged in a pursuit and made sure to follow the hooded figure wherever he tried to flee.

Their blades clashed once or twice each time they stopped before they began all over again with their cat and mouse game. Makoto hadn't payed attention for the span of a few seconds and the other guy had suddenly blasted him with a damned Cero. And if he could use a Cero, who knows what other Hollow abilities this guy was capable of using.

So, Makoto made sure to keep the fight up close and personal. While their fight went on, the other currently ongoing battle was finally showing some real progress. Makoto couldn't see how, but as soon as they had released their Shikai, the twins had stepped up their game by a couple notches. He was only about five minutes into his own fight after he had given them the news and the army of Hollows standing in the sky was turning into a rain of disintegrating bodies at an exceptionally fast rate. Makoto didn't allow himself to take a moment and enjoy the relief this time though, he just kept pressing his opponent.

Which worked to a moderate amount. Thanks to his high Spiritual pressure and the great sword form of his Shikai (which he was honestly more adept to fighting with than the Katana), he was able to keep the battle in his favor. He chased the hooded figure around in circles, bombarding him with barrage after barrage of slash attacks and was able to keep him from using any Hollow based attacks.

All but one. Something Makoto had only read in reports about and as a result vastly underestimated: the Bala. According to the data kept in Soul Societys freely accessible combat documentation vault, the Bala was a weaker, much faster version of the usual Cero.

If it hadn't been for that one little technique, Makoto would have won their fight some time ago. But each and every time he had an opening to land a fatal hit, his enemy just busted out this annoying ass move and balanced their battle out again.

Worst part about that was that this attack required practically no charge up time and was basically instantly usable, not just once, but several times in succession.

Makoto had just managed to create an opening again and was so sure he'd be fast enough to land a blow this time, but no, he was just greeted by several Balas which he barely managed to block with the flat side of his blade.

"You know", Makoto panted in between breaths after having blocked the last Bala, "I'm getting real tired of your second rate exit strategy bullshit." He grunted angrily and jumped straight back into combat.

"_Yo Mak", _Susanoo said after a while, _"I think it's time we resort to some fuckery ourselves, wouldn't you agree?"_

"Couldn't have said it better myself partner", Makoto responded with a grim smirk. And finally made use of his tattoos.

The tattoos on his arms served one purpose and one purpose only. A Kido incantation shortcut. At first glance, they just looked like some random lines drawn across his arms. On closer inspection however, one would realize that those were just very small kanjis. Each and every tattoo line on his arms, from start to finish, was an incantation for one spell, which he could actvate by viewing the lines as a sort of conveyor belt. He put in the raw materials (Spiritual energy) at the start of the incantation and literally warped the energy into the spell via the incantation on his skin.

Thing was that half the spells on his arms weren't even that strong, but extremely useful when applied with their maximum strength. No matter how skilled or strong the user was, a Kido spell could only be used to its full potential by using the entire enchantment for it.

For his next attack he chose a spell on his arms that had a special place in his heart. Instead of just one single enchantment, it was three same enchantments lined on top of each other. In other words, the spell was activated three times in the same space, at the same time, making it all the more powerful. The spell he was using was basically uselss in its original form against his current opponent. In that modified form however, well, it was disgustingly useful.

He jumped back to gain some distance and aimed for the hooded figure. "Hado Nr. 1", he said loud and clear so his opposite could hear what he said and be confused by it, which he was. He directed the palm of his left hand towards the enemy. "Sho!"

In mild surprise the hooded figure scoffed and braced himself for a minor impact of kinetic force, only to be completely caught off guard and blown back a few meters, much to Makotos statisfaction. He used the little time window to get close to his opponent with Shunpo, attacked with a wild swing from above and locked swords.

With a smile, he put his left hand on the blade of his sword and used another one of the spells on his arm. "Hado 11: Tsuzuri Raiden!"

Electricity traveled from his hand to his sword and over to his opponent putting him in temporary paralysis, giving Makoto another window of opportunity, one he definetly wouldn't waste. He knocked away the other sword, whirled his own around and aimed for the chest of his enemy. The strike was about to connect…

…and was suddenly interrupted by a flash of silver that knocked his sword away and delivered a punch to his stomach. Makoto gasped for air and managed to back away a few meters to recover. He blinked and tried to get rid of his momentarily blurry vision to look at the newcomer.

In front of him was a knight. A literal knight. Old school silver armor, from top to bottom, he was even wearing a cape, the full set.

"_Didn't know it was carnival already",_ Susanoo commented.

Makoto ignored him. "Not to be sore loser or anything", he grunted slightly pained, "but this little asshole deserved to be hit by that one just now. Do you have any idea how annoying he's been over the past couple minutes?"

"I do think I have a slight idea, yes", the knight answered. He sounded like an older man, his manner of expression was cultivated. "He does tend to resort to quite the… mentally vexing sort of fighting style."

"Nobody asked you to get involved Gingiri, I had that", the hooded figure said with an annoyed tone.

"Quiet Hattaska", Gingiri uttered, "we both know very well that you certainly did not "have that."

"Yeah so what", Hattaska countered. "I'm just warming up. Give me a few more minutes and I'll make quick work of this one. Been thinking about it ever since he almost blew me to pieces six months ago."

Gingiri turned to Makoto as if he was studying him and tilted his head. "Your report was pretty accurate in regarding his looks, although he doesn't appear to be even close to as strong as you described him to be. Are you sure he is in between lieutenant and captain level?"

"I've been spying on him long enough, so I'd say that I'm very sure", Hattaska said. "He's just not using his Bankai yet."

"Excuse me people", Makoto said out loud a little annoyed. "I'm right here. I can hear you talk. Don't you know it's rude to talk about someone when they're right in front of you?"

"Apologies", Gingiri said with surprising honesty. "How rude of us indeed. But since you are so voluntarily trying to bring yourself into the conversation, allow me to appretiate your initiative and ask you a question: are you in fact able to practice Bankai?"

"_Seems like they know", _Susanoo commented.

"_It can't hurt to still try. I'm a little worried the twins will maybe pick up a thing or two they're not supposed to hear if these two keep talking at that volume. I'm gonna shit talk us some time, let's prepare the thing", _Makoto continued the conversation internally for the first time this battle.

"_You sure that's a good idea? If you use _that_, then the asshole in the hood has confirmation that you were the one trying to literally filet him half a year ago. And don't forget Mr. Shiny over there. We got no idea what he has up his sleeve."_

"_If we even have half a charge, I can take 'em both out in one go. We gotta charge slowly though, maybe they won't realize it."_

"I'm sorry what now?", Makoto asked in pretty convincing fake confusion. "I think you're confusing me with someone else here. I'm Makoto Souken, 4th seat of squad 11 of the Gotei 13-"

"We know who you are", Hattaska cut him off.

"Stalker alert", Makoto said with slight mockery. The silver markings on his sword began to glow with a red hue as his sword was filling up with Reiryoku. "If you also know my favorite food, hobbies and the place where I hid the underwear from the super sexy lieutenant from squad 10 I'm filing a restraining order on your asses."

"Oh rest assured, we possess no knowledge about your preferred foods, freetime occupations or… other activities you pursue at your leisure. Simply your name, status and abilities." Gingiri spoke in a very civilized tone, almost as if Makoto had _not_ been trying to make minced meat out of his comrade just a few seconds ago. "Although I find those recorded documents to be somewhat inaccurate. They didn't enlist you as a Kido expert at all and yet here you are, using the most basic Hado techniques with terrifying effectivity. You are a most peculiar one, Makoto Souken, most peculiar indeed."

"I'm not sure if you're complementing me, or if you're calling me a weirdo and frankly I'm not okay with that. Peculiar how?"

Gingiri put a hand to the chin of his helmet, as if he was stroking a beard. "Peculiar as in your very presence here indicates you harbor no ill motive towards Soul Society and yet you broke into their laboratory to steal a device of theirs, so there's clearly something you are hiding from the rest of the world."

"I still got no idea what you're talking about", Makoto kept playing dumb. "Who even are you? Where are you coming from and what's your deal?"

This time it was Hattaska that answered. "I already told you, you don't-"

"I heard you the first time", Makoto straight up ignored him. "Doesn't change the fact that I'm still curious."

"What are you-" Hattaska attempted a question, but Makoto just overtalked him again.

"There are just a couple things I don't understand you know? Like, for example", he started to casually pacing around. "Why are attacking us? I mean you _are_ fellow Shinigamis yourself, so why attack. I thought former captain Sousuke Aizen was the only one who had beef with Soul Society."

"That's none-", Gingiri attempted, but Makoto ignored him just like Hattaska.

"I wasn't finished", he said and playfully started whirling around his sword. "If you've got pent up aggression against the Gotei 13, why didn't you join captain Aizen during his coup? Would have been a lot easier than just trying to do this on your own. If you're pissed at some of the captains, well; if your anger is directed towards any of the following ones, such as captain Komamura, captain Unohana, captain Ukitake, well then tough luck, they're already dead. If you're pissed at captain commander Genryuusai; though luck, he's already dead. If you're pissed at the Soul King; tough luck he's already dead and been replaced with a new one. So who are you pissed at?"

All he was getting from his opposites were cold auras of deception.

"Quit stalling already, you're just delaying the inevitable", Hattaska pointed out with annoyance.

"Not quite", Gingiri corrected him and pointed to Makoto's ever brighter glowing sword. "He's buying time." Gingiri lifted his sword in front of him. "Honor the righteous, Kettoshin!" As soon as he uttered the words, his sword changed its form from a katana into a rapier.

"And that's my cue", Makoto said with a grim smirk. He charged a tattooline on his right arm where he kept some of the most useful Bakudo spells. "Bakudo Nr. 21: Sekienton!" An explosion of red smoke covered his entire surroundings, rendering his enemies unable to see him.

And that's when he activated his Zanpakutous special ability: time delay. This ability enabled him to slow down time to a certain degree for everything else but himself in a limited area. It was a powerful and mighty ability, but it also came with a downside.

First he had to charge a certain amount of energy to activate the technique and even when he had a full charge, he could only slow down time for no longer than ten seconds. Now however, he only had half a charge. But that was all he needed. With the delay activated, he used Shunpo to get behind his enemies and aimed to take out both of them with one hit.

His blade was almost connecting when Gingiri suddenly whirled around at _normal speed_ and blocked Makotos swing. For a moment he was shocked and lost his focus. The five seconds weren't over yet. He was certain that they weren't and yet his enemy reacted to his attack as if nothing had happened. For a moment Makoto was worried his ability hadn't taken effect at all and checked on his surroundings. Hattaska was to his left and while he was turning towards Makoto and Gingiri, it was like he was moving in slow motion. The red smoke from his Bakudo spell was almost frozen in midair. Everything was slowed down, as it was supposed to be.

Just not Gingiri. The five seconds passed and time was moving normally again. Hattaska whirled around and his sword was coming towards Makotos throat with alarming velocity. He broke out of his lock with Gingiri and backed away. At a loss for words, he tried to process what just had happened.

"_Am I crazy, or did he j__ust ignore that we slowed down time?"_, he heard Susanoo say in his head, equally as baffled as Makoto himself. Makoto wanted to retort something, but he couldn't. He was simply too perplexed by the fact that someone was actually able to circumvent his ace technique.

"Confused?", Gingiri asked with a surprising amount of sinister glee.

"You could say that, yeah", Makoto answered. "What the actual fuck?"

Gingiri chuckled. "Don't worry young man, you aren't the first one to give me that look during a fight. Now, I could go on and elaborate as to how I was able to counter the very interesting and dangerous ability you have just displayed, but then again, I would give away one of my possibly biggest advantages and well", he shunpoed behind Makoto. "That would be quite moronic, wouldn't it."

The only thing that saved Makoto in this very moment were his reflexes. Out of pure instinct, he whirled his great sword around and was rewarded with a high pitched noise from behind him that indicated two blades had just found contact with each other. He whirled himself around and began to attack the opposing knight with a barrage of swing attacks all the while making sure to keep rotating his sword while attacking to build momentum.

Just as he had built up enough, he made use of one of his more preferred techniques for the second time this day. "Hado 58 modified: Tenran Tatsumaki!"

It turned out he had timed the usage of his technique just right as Hattaska had appeared behind him and tried to sneak attack him with a Cero. Both of Makotos adversaries were blown away by the whirlwind and found themselves several meters away from their target.

"Hattaska!", Gingiri shouted all of a sudden. "Kazuka is already on her way to this side. She will deal with the two troublemakers above us. I will make sure to deal with this one right here. I think I'm more suited for dealing with him than you are."

"You really think it's a good idea to let Kazuka fight alone?", Hattaska asked and actually sounded a little concerned, which made Makoto suspicious.

"Have you already forgotten Hattaska?", Gingiri asked and sounded almost like a scolding grandfather: "We take no prisoners today."

"Oh right, nevemind then", Hattaska retorted and got Makoto to go from suspicious to pretty worried. "In the meantime", Gingiri continued, "would you be so kind to take care of our lovely little runaways down below?"

**(Bleach OST: Encirclement Battle)**

Before, Makoto had just been worried. Now though, every alarmclock in his head was ringing at full volume. In an instant, he began to charge his sword again, throwing all subtlety out the window this time. That way he was able to prepare the energy needed for his time delay much faster. Gingiri noticed what he was doing and immediately took an attack stance. Makoto didn't pay it much attention and just kept charging until he was at max capacity. Additionally, he activated a tattoo line on his left arm and made sure it was one of his stronger Hado spells. Then he activated his time delay, this time for the entire ten seconds.

And immediately turned around towards Hattaska. He stretched out his left arm and shouted: "Hado Nr. 73: Souren Soukatsui!"

The spell in his hand discharged with a beam and found its way straight towards the bearer of the dark bladed Zanpakutou. Then he whirled around to direct his attention towards the actual threat here, the one who was appearantly _immune_ to time manipulation. Only to find he wasn't there. Another thing that made him suspicious was that there had yet to be an explosion from his Kido spell.

He turned around to Hattaska again, only to find himself to be even more alerted. Instead of a mutilated corpse, he was greeted by the sight of Gingiri who had appearantly just effortlessly _deflected_ a level 73 Hado spell with a flick of his wrist, leaving the other aggressor unharmed. The giant blue flame traveled further upwards and finally exploded after coming into contact with a dissolving Hollow corpse. Time was beginning to move at normal speed again, but Makoto wouldn't give up just yet.

It didn't matter if he could actually defeat Gingiri that was a question for later. No, his number one goal right now was to obliterate every trace of Hattaska's existence so that he couldn't get down to the kids. He could deal with Gingiri later, but Hattaska had to die right this fucking instant. He charged his sword again to release another time delay, but this time he was intercepted by Gingiri.

The silver knight attacked him with a ferocious combination of thrust and slash attacks, until they interlocked swords again. Hattaska didn't hesitate and used the opportunity created by his partner. He catapulted himself downwards to the village and went straight to the entrance.

In his desperation Makoto raised his Reiatsu to the currently possible max, violently pushed Gingiri away and heaved him upwards to the sky with a wild swing attack from below, which the silver knight barely managed to block and was sent flying as a result. Makoto immediately pursued Hattaska by bringing up all the power he had and launched himself to the entrance as well. "Get your ass back here!", he shouted after the hooded figure.

Makoto kept kicking himself downwards off of spiritpaticles in the air and kept coming closer to his target. He was almost there. He had almost reached him. He was only a few moments away from finally landing a fatal hit on the bastard. He wound up for a deadly strike…

…and was once again interrupted by Gingiri suddenly appearing between him and his target, blocking his attack in the process. Through Makotos immense momentum, they still traveled towards the ground a few dozen meters, but ultimately came to a halt with Hattaska gaining distance again and coming dangerously close to the entrance.

"As I've already said", Gingiri grunted under some effort, "I shall be your opponent."

Makoto grunted in anger and proceeded to bombard his current very persistent and annoying opponent with one wild array of attacks after another. He had to get rid of him as fast as possible. He had to kill him and then kill Hattaska and then get the twins and get the hell out of here before shit got even worse, if that was even possible-

As if the universe was winking at him and saying "it _is_ possible", a panic-seizure inducing bloodlust overtook the whole battlefield and froze everyone in their place for a moment.

"Ah yes", Gingiri uttered almost a little taken aback after a few seconds, "that would be Kazuka."

ooo

With wild anticipation, Kazuka Aizawa stepped out of the Garganta. Her long blue hair was bound together into a ponytail, her upper body was simply covered by a few bandages around the chest area and her Shinigami pants where white instead of black. It had been a long time since she had actually gotten the opportunity to let loose. Sparing matches against her comrades were always boring, there was no real thrill to it.

She could immediately sense a high Spiritual pressure down below, but it was right next to Gingiris signature, so that was out of question. For now. Who knows, if she didn't find somebody who could actually give her a good time or if her opponents just died too fast out of weakness, she'd snatch that one away from the old man.

Hattaska was also around somewhere, but she couldn't feel him in near vicinity of the village. If she had to be honest, she couldn't give less of a damn where he was, so long as he didn't interfere with her fun. Speaking of…

There were two more people around. Their signatures were very similar, maybe they were related or some shit. They were currently dealing with the last of the lower Hollows that had been sent through the Garganta. She could still see the last of them dissolving in mid air. She searched for them with her eyes and realized they were already using Shikai, since they weren't fighting with swords anymore.

One of them had weird black bandages wrapped all around both of his arms with armor plates on his forearms and the other one was fighting with… were those guns? She squinted her eyes to be sure. Yeah, one of them was actually fighting with freaking revolvers. She chuckled, cracked her knuckles and said: "Now this looks like a party."

Her chuckle turned into a gleeful laughter as she drew her sword and stormed towards the two unlucky bastards. She wasn't sure which one to attack first, so she just went with the simplest solution and went for the one that was closest to her. One of the Hollows got between her and her target, so she shredded it into tiny pieces before she got to take a swing at him. He noticed her just in time to block her attack by crossing his arms.

What she had initially perceived as simple armor plates turned out to be a lot more sturdy than she thought; she couldn't get through them. He grunted under the strain of the power behind her attack. "Well aren't you a lively one", he managed to press out. She just snickered and kept pressing her sword against his arms to see if she could break through his block with brute. He noticed what she was trying to do and seemed surprised for a moment, before dawning an ominous smile. "Bakudo Nr. 9: Geki!"

He began to permeate a red aura that engulfed her entire body and suddenly rendered her immobile. He backed away and stretched out both of his arms, started to chant an incantation all while emitting some serious Spiritual pressure. For anyone else, this situation might have seemed alarming and worrysome, but not for Kazuka. All it did was put a smile on her face.

"Rampage and slaughter, Onikoroshi!" Her Zanpakutou dissolved and grafted itself onto the skin of her forearms and forming blades at the sides of her arms. With the rapid increase in physical strength her Shikai provided, she broke through the bind her enemy had bestowed upon her. Completely unfazed by the fact that she had just ripped through his earlier enchantment through sheer force alone, he simply stopped mid-incantation, adjusted his aim and fired his Kido spell.

"Hado 34: Kongoubaku!" A large fireball erupted from the palm of his hand and hit her point blank range…

…or at least, that's what it would have done, if she wouldn't have raised her own Spiritual pressure to literally cut through the spell with her blades and storm towards her opponent. She planned to cut him clean in half, but that didn't come to fruition. As soon as she lifted her arm to wind up, it was hit by a small projectile, to which she was thrown back a few meters.

She looked up to see that the other opposing Shinigami had just shot her with one of his revolvers and was now aiming at her with both of them. He consecutively shot one round after another at her, all of which she cut in half, but had to let the one close to her escape in return. After 11 shots in total the onslaught stopped. Slightly confused, she checked to see why, only to find that her enemy was reloading his guns. With a vicious smile on her face she shunpoed to his location and cut his chest open from bottom to top.

But there was no blood. The body also wasn't moving, it was simply suspended in mid-air, until it just faded away, revealing another same looking guy just a few meters further front of her, clocking the chambers of his guns back into position, fully loaded. "An afterimage", she concluded slightly impressed. "What's your name, gunslinger?"

With a relaxed smile, he playfully whirled around one of his revolvers on his index finger and answered: "Kenjiro Kaemon, member of the 11th division. But gunslinger sounds pretty cool too, I'm keeping that one. What do you think bro?"

"Yeah, gotta admit it's got a nice ring to it", a voice responded from behind her. She whirled around to see Kenjiro's brother standing right in front of her, with both index fingers pointed at her head. "Hado Nr. 4 modified: Double Byakurai!"

Kazuka managed to react just in time and shunpo sideways a few meters before her opponent unleashed his attack upon her. She saw the two beames unleash and hit nothing but air. A smile found its way onto her face as her heart was racing from having just escaped near death. "And you are?"

"Hiroshi Kaemon. I would say pleased to meet you as that is usual polite ettiquette…"

"…as would I have, but we literally _just_ met you…", Kenjiro continued the sentence.

"…and if the current situation is any indication…", Hiroshi took over again.

"…this fight is gonna end with at least one of us dead…"

"…so while we would most certainly love to do nothing more than chit-chat the entire day…"

"…we're gonna skip formalities and get straight to the killling you part."

"Are you always doing that? Completing each others sentences?", she asked, purely out of interest.

"Sometimes…", Kenjiro began.

"…when we feel like it."

"Adorable", Kazuka commented.

"Thank you", both of them answered in unison with a smug attitude.

"Oh, you two are going to be a lot of fun", she said with giddy anticipation, more to herself than her opponents. Her Spiritual pressure rose together with her excitementn "Let's get down to it!"

ooo

"Can't these people chill out for like, a minute?", Kiara grunted as she struggled to stay on her feet.

It had only been a couple minutes since Makoto had yelled at them to run. Ever since then, the fight behind them had gotten more and more intense. Powerful, paralyzing waves of rising Spiritual pressure had come down on Kiara and Akito in short, consecutive and brutal manner.

It was hard to walk. It was hard to move around. Hell, after the second to last impact wave that was directly resulting off someone raising their Spiritual pressure, it even got hard to breathe and they were hundreds of meters away from the fight. The villagers were luckily much, much further in front of them. Common sense had kicked in rather quickly with these people and they had remembered how to run for their lifes pretty fast.

On Kiaras request, they had stayed in near vicinity of the village, but far away enough from the battlefield. Despite Makotos pleadings, she still wanted to observe what a real fight looked like. Plus, they had enough distance between themselves and their enemies and they were in the midst of a forest, so they should be safe from any attackers. Or so they assumed. An assumption that was shattered by the horrifying sight of one of those attackers flying _directly_ towards them.

Almost immediately afterwards, a wave of Makoto's Reiatsu had hit them, which had been the one that made it difficult to breathe. But the last one… The last one had been insane in a whole different way. It wasn't so much the sheer pressure of it, but rather the emotion conveyed in it. The pure bloodlust was… bone chilling to say the least. Luckily, the twins kept busy who or whatever it was that had such a hard-on for murdering people. Makoto was occupied with one in a shiny knight armor so him coming for the rescue was out of the question.

Which was a very concerning circumstance, given the fact that the last one of the attackers was in close pursuit, while Kiara and Akito almost couldn't stand upright without having to lean on a tree.

Great. Just Great.

Soon they'd have to realease their own Spiritual pressure so they could at least move a little better, but as long as they hadn't been found yet, they didn't want to present themselves on a silver plate. On the other hand, them being found was something that was bound to happen _very_ soon, because they could already hear their new opponent rummaging through the woods behind them.

As fast as they could, Kiara and Akito each took cover behind a tree. They slowed down their breathing and drew their swords.

He was coming closer.

They both closed their eyes and suppressed their Reiatsu as much as possible. At the same time, they both focused on their enemy to grasp his position. A cold feeling was creaking up her spine as she locked on to him and was immediately thrown back by the cold, bitter hatred he was emitting.

He was very close to them now.

Judging by her hearing, she'd say he was about three or four meters behind them. Her heartbeat was racing, sweat was dripping from her chin, her breath trembled and she had to grip her sword very hard to stop it from shaking. She gulped and looked over to Akito, only to see that he wasn't really faring any better. His face had lost a few shades of color and upon making that observation she wondred if she looked the same. He looked to her and nodded to see if she was ready. She nodded back and slowly raised her sword to get ready to strike.

The attacker took a few slow steps towards them. And then stopped.

And suddenly appeared in between them via Shunpo. In her shocked state she was unable to move for a few moments. A few _deadly_ moments, that would have cost her her life, had Akito's Reiatsu not skyrocketed, immediately followed by a wild attack towards the head of the hooded figure. It looked like it was a sure fire hit, but it was blocked by a dark saber at the very last moment. Right after that, Kiara shook off her paralysis, raised her own Spiritual pressure and aimed for the head of the hooded figure with a strike of her own.

And then their attacker chaught her blade with nothing else but his bare left _hand_.

"Oh fuck."

She wanted to get her sword free, charge a Kido attack, anything that would get her moving and away from this man standing right in front of her with the blade of her sword between the iron grip of his fingers. But she was simply powerless and way too slow to evade the kick to her stomach that catapulted her through several trees and pressed all the air out of her lungs. She couldn't see what happened to Akito, but guessing by his scream, his treatment probably wasn't any better.

After a few more crashes she came to a halt and rolled out on the ground, where she couldn't do anything but lay around and and gasp for air while her body was writhing in pain. Makoto had never been merciful with his treatment, but this was on another level.

Slowly and carefully, she managed to get up on all fours and almost collapsed back on the ground again as she was overcome by a coughing fit. Something liquid was finding its way up her throat and she threw up. At first she thought she had just vomited, but when she recognized that all too familiar metallic taste in her mouth and saw the red puddle underneath her, she reconsidered that assessment.

"God damn it", she uttered with a shaking voice. With great care and slow movements, she got back on her feet and examined the damage on her body. Her stomach area was numb for the moment, but she guessed that at least some ribs were broken. Her breathing seemed okay, so nothing was punctuating her lungs, which was a small relief. Her back was hurting all over, but nothing could be broken there either, or else she wouldn't be able to stand. So as far as she could tell, it was only her ribs.

Great, so that was at least… something?

She tried to walk, which sent a stinging pain up the left side of her chest at first, but it got easier the longer she walked. Now she looked around for her sword, which had been knocked out of her hand somewhere during her not so majestic flight through the woods. She found it a few meters in front of her and got to it to pick it up.

So far so good. She had her sword, she could walk, all that was left now was the fight and- "Oh shit, Akito!" Throwing all care and grace out the window, she frantically looked around to search for the other two combatants, moving around as fast as her body allowed her to and, as soon as she had reoriented herself, ran back to her comrade half limping and half actually running.

_Oh please don't be dead, please don't be- _She kept repeating that one prayer as she finally reached the scene and almost didn't dare to look and when she did she found…

…Akito alive. More than alive, he was actually fighting this terrifying… thing in a hood and was able to somewhat hold his own. Akito didn't pressure him or anything, he looked like he was at the upper limit of what he could do and he already had cuts and bruises all over his body, but at least he was alive. Kiara didn't know any high level Kido that would be of use here and judging by the current status, she'd probably just get into Akitos way in her current condition.

But there had to be something she could do to help.

"Focus. Analyze the flow of the fight. Find and create loopholes", she talked to herself. Maybe she didn't know an impressive Kido spell, but she could at least support her partner with the little knowledge she did have. She put her sword back into her sheath, stretched her arms out and started to recite an incantation. As soon as that one was done, she focused and finished the spell in one hand, ready for release. Then, she went on to the next one, finished that one as well and focused it in her other hand.

Then she observed the fight and searched for an opening. While doing so, she noticed something odd about Akito, more specifically his fighting style. Whenever she had been sparring with him, he had been battling with a neutral to defensive style. But the way he was fighting now was anything but that. It was much more aggressive and offensive, sometimes completely forsaking defense for the sake of offense. He also put his sword back into the sheath just to draw it again multiple consecutive times. But the weirdest part about all of that was that he seemed way more proficient with this way of fighting than with any other style she had ever seen him use.

She was so infatuated with his new way of fighting that she would have almost missed her window of opportunity. Almost. Akito got hit by a very hard strike, was sent to the ground and the hooded figure raised his blade to give him the finishing blow. She released her first spell and aimed at his sword, which he held high up into the air.

"Bakudo Nr. 4: Hainawa!" A thin yellow rope erupted from her hand and shot towards the swordhand of the enemy, entangling it and his entire arm with it. Next, she fired her second spell towards his feet. "Hado Nr. 1: Sho!" Against all odds, she managed to get the hooded figure to lose his balance. He toppled backwards away from her partner, to which she yelled: "Akito, NOW!" The other Shinigami didn't hesitate for even a second, got up from the ground and slashed his opponents' throat with deadly accuracy.

Which is what would have happened, if said opponent wouldn't have caught his blade mid-air just like he caught hers, ripped it out of his hand, threw it away and sent Akito flying with a punch to his chest. Then he raised his free hand and aimed at his other arm.

From one moment to the other, a lighting fast red flash of energy destroyed every trace of the rope around his arm, after which he turned around and looked at her. She wanted to move, but his Spiritual pressure spiked and froze her in place. Once again, she was paralyzed by the sheer amount of hatred bottled up in the person in front of her. She could feel its very weight on her entire body, not able to move a single muscle. He disappeared and almost instantly appeared in front of her again, raised his sword…

…and violently rammed it through her body.

He was very close to Kiara now, his aggressive emotions were almost crushing her on the spot. She was afraid to look down. She knew what had happened, she had felt the impact of his blade when it carved its way into her body, but she didn't dare to look down, almost as if it wouldn't be real if she didn't see it. She breathed heavily, trembling with fear as she finally lowered her head, not being able to resist. And then she saw it.

His sword had gone through her stomach in its entire length, with the guard resting at the skin of her abdomen. They lingered a few more seconds in that horrifying moment, before he forcibly tore the dark blade out of her body. In shock, she stumbled a few steps backwards and sunk down to the ground on her knees, as her robes were slowly colored with her own blood.

In sheer panic she tried to apply pressure to the wound with her hands, but to no avail. The blood kept flowing out of the wound, no matter how much she tried to stop the bleeding.

She looked back up to her attacker, who simply scoffed, turned around and walked away, leaving her to die. She felt cold, so so very cold. Her entire body was shivering, she herself was almost driven mad by her inevitable death coming closer and closer with each second.

And then suddenly, she heard a voice.

"_What a disrespectful asshole. He's not even gonna finish you off, he's just leaving you to bleed out."_

Confused, Kiara turned around to look for the owner of the voice. Only to find that she was no longer in the forest, nor was it any longer daytime. No, she found herself inside of her inner world.

"It's a shame really", the girl who was now in front of her said. "I wish I could have fought alongside you at least once." She walked up to Kiara, sighed and sat down right in front of her. She looked at Kiara and tilted her head a little. "But when I look at you now, with that same confused look on your face that you always have, I reckon you can't even understand me. Again. Which would mean that the last time where you could actually hear me was a fluke. And _that _means, my partner is gonna die without having ever even said my name. It would be funny, if it wasn't so sad."

"I can still understand you, you know", Kiara interrupted her.

"Wait, you can? Holy shit I- Then why do you still have that look on your face?"

"Because about a second ago I was dying and now I- OH SHIT I'M DYING!" In wild hectic she tried to continue to stop the bleeding, only to find that there was none. The wound was still there, but no blood was coming out of it anymore. "What the- What's happening?"

Her opposite snickered. "You're in your inner world honey. Whenever you're on the verge of near death, time kinda works differently here. Judging by the situation, I'd say we've got a couple minutes before you lose consciousness on the outside due to blood loss. But now that you can hear me, that changes everything. We may not be able to beat this guy, but I think we can still get one good shot at him."

"Uhm… how are we supposed to do that? Just in case you haven't been paying attention, he's been throwing me around like a ragdoll the entire time and he fucking _stabbed me_ in the gut. Which, by the way, sucks."

"Oh", her opposite said and smiled mysteriously. "I'll tell you, but first things first…"

ooo

**(Bleach OST: Turn the tables)**

Kiara opened her eyes, took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. Then she slowly took her right hand off her wound and drew her sword. It was a little strange, but she felt weirdly… determined. Yes, she was dying and would probably be dead in the next couple minutes, but she had also found an unexpected ally in her peril.

She stretched her sword out in front of her and pointed towards her opponent. She filled her lungs with air and then shouted: "FORGE…

ooo

Her opposite almost seemed like she was getting a bit excited. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this. My name is…"

ooo

"KYOKU NO BAN'NIN!"

A sudden, immense surge of power was coursing through her entire body, electrifying it to the very tips of her fingers. The pain of her wounds faded into the background. The panic that had been filling out her chest shrunk and was replaced with confidence. Her power was now so enormous for her standards, that it started to radiate off her body in form of a massive, slightly dark violet aura of Reiatsu.

So this was the power of Shikai. With joyful anticipation, she stood up and looked onto the sword in her hands. Only to find it wasn't exactly… different. I _was_ different alright but not nearly as much as she would have hoped. The length or form didn't really change, it was just thinner. Additionally, it had lost its silver color and had taken a much more blueish hue, the kind that freshly heated steel took when it cooled down.

"Well that's… unexpected."

"_Hey!_", she heard her partner exclaim in her head. "_I kinda take offense to that._"

"Alright, alright I'm sorry. Now tell me again how we can kick this guy's ass while I got about a minute of consciousness left?"

"_Right, right got caught up in the moment. Take all the Reiatsu you emitt right now and focus as much as you can on the edge of the blade."_

Focusing Reiatsu into a certain point? Kiara smiled. Now that, she could do. While she did what she had been relentlessly practicing for weeks, her enemy turned around and dedicated his attention towards her once more.

"Huh", he scoffed and with that talked to her for the first time since he had begun to mow down trees by throwing her through them. "Impressive. So what's this, your second wind or your dying gasp? Judging by that red puddle beneath your feet", he said and tilted his head a little, "I'd say it's the latter. But thank you."

Slightly confused, Kiara raised an eyebrow.

"You've shown me once again that my hatred for the Shinigami", he continued, "might be a justification to let them suffer for blindly following a corrupt regime, but it still shouldn't keep me from being efficient. So with that, I'll give you a generous warning." He crouched and took a stance. "I'll be going for the head this time."

"_When he comes at you_", her partner said, "_just strike at him. I'll take care of the rest._"

"Got it", Kiara nodded.

And then he came at her. His feet dug themselves into the ground from the sheer force he was propelling himself with.

All radical thinking went out the window and Kiara acted purely on instinct now. As soon as he had jumped towards her, she slashed the area in front of her. Her guess turned out to be right, as he almost ran into the blade through his sheer speed. However, he was still able to somewhat slow down and block her attack. Of course he was, after all he was still stronger than her, even with her current power-up.

"Whatever it is that you're gonna do, now would be the time!", she shouted towards her Zanpakutou spirit.

The next words she heard in her head were so saturated with confidence, Kiara could almost hear her partner smile.

"_You got it._"

From one moment to the other, all the energy Kiara had gathered on the edge of her blade focused into one single point, where her and her enemy's blade were making contact, and exploded in a wave of sheer destructive power that was solely directed towards the opponent.

Kiara could feel the sudden lack of resistance from his blade and after the dust had settled, she could see that she had actually managed to blow him away a considerable distance. The grass on the ground was gone and replaced with a crater of burnt earth and almost everything in front of her was either burnt away completely, or had massive scorch marks.

"Holy shit", she uttered in amazement.

"_You got that right. I pack some heat!_"

"Yeah, literally", Kiara chuckled. The dust settled and she finally got a good look at her opponent. Whose hood had been blown off, finally revealing his face. His hair was red, but unlike hers, it had a more lighter, firey hue to it. He kept it short on the sides and grew it out slightly longer on top of his head. His face was actually pretty normal too. He had light blue eyes and a long scar going over the right side of his face, beginning at the top of his eyebrow and ending slightly above his chin. And then there was the fresh wound. It was going from the middle of his right cheek all the way down to his right collarbone.

He slightly touched his new wound and grunted a little. "Now that's a surprise", he said and licked his finger. Pride filled out Kiaras chest. She actually managed to wound him. She smiled as she took a battle stance. She was about to shout at him that there was more where that came from, when reality kicked in. Her vision was getting blurry, her legs began losing strength and her arms felt like lead.

Fuck. She forgot a very important detail; her blood loss. She fell down to one knee as her enemy kept talking, his voice fading out more and more with each word.

"Gotta admit, as far as last ditch efforts go, this one ranks moderately high on the totem pole. But, to be honest, I'd like it to be your actual last one forever. So", his voice got deeper as his next sentence was spoken with way more menace. "Let's make it official, shall we."

And before he even stormed towards her, she blacked out.

ooo

Hattaska got ready to make one final sprint towards the girl. He was almost impressed by her last attack. It packed a real punch and had respectable power behind it. The girl also had some spunk. She didn't give up in the face of inevitable death and Hattaska had to commend her for that.

However that was about the only thing. He used Shunpo to get right in front of her and lifted his arm. This time, he'd make sure she wouldn't get another chance at getting the jump on him. She was unconscious, with her face towards the ground. She was kneeling with her right leg, while supporting herself on her sword which she had subconsciously rammed into the ground earlier.

He brought his blade down with all his power and aimed to cut open her skull…

…when she suddenly caught his wrist. Completely taken by surprise, he ceased movement for a few moments. The girl had just blacked out right in front of him, so how was she able to catch his arm? He quickly regained his composure and attempted to rip his arm free, but her grip was iron tight. It was so tight in fact that it even started to hurt. Actually unsettled now, he tried to assess the situation. His confusion didn't last long however, because the girl was now lifting her head.

**(Bleach OST: Treachery)**

And the eyes that were staring into his own were not the ones of a Shinigami. They were the eyes of a Hollow. Black with golden irises, they stared at him with glee and malice. Her face was decorated with a vicious smile and she growled with a distorted voice. A phenomenon Hattaska was all too familiar with.

Hollowfication.

But how in the world did this girl have Hollow powers? Wasn't she just a normal novice? His astonishement soon turned into concern, when the girl quickly rose up to her feet, drew the sword from the ground, wound up and repeated the same energy attack from earlier, but charged much faster this time.

Out of pure instinct, he raised his Spiritual pressure to its limits, but the hollowfied girl was left cold by that and showed no signs of being affected. Instead, she _spoke_.

"Tough luck big guy", she said with a darkly amused tone. "Maybe next time, you go for the kill right away, instead of being a prideful little bitch who thinks he's too good for all the dirty work. Or maybe it lies in your nature to never finish things off and follow through with them. I don't know and honestly I don't care."

Her vicious smile got bigger. "So long, moron." And with that, she hit him again with the same attack from before. Once again, he was blown away, but fortunately for him, ever since he had acquired his own Hollow powers, Hollow Reiatsu didn't do as much damage on him as it normally would have.

While he was sent flying, he was able to catch himself and find his balance fairly easily, now that he knew the vague extent of that attack's power. However, now he had a different problem. He had to fight a hollowfied Shinigami, much worse even, with the Hollow in control. He'd have to finish this quickly. The longer this fight would go on, the more powerful the girl would become. He cursed and got ready to put on his own Hollow mask.

When he got up this morning to overview their little experiment, he did not expect this.

He was about to hollowfy himself when he noticed the girl was back on her knee again, coughing up blood. Steam was coming out of her wound as the bleeding subsided and it began to close.

She cursed as her eyes went back to being those of a Shinigami and she lost consciousness again.

He took a deep breath and relaxed. So her inner Hollow wasn't really that powerful just yet, or else it wouldn't have taken all of its will to close a wound while losing control over its host body in return.

"No risks this time", he told himself and lifted his hand to charge a Cero. He'd charge it to its absolute fullest to obliterate every trace of the girl. Somebody like that couldn't be left alive.

ooo

Akito grunted as he coughed up some blood and got back onto his feet. He shook his head to get a clear vision again and tried to ignore the ringing in his ears until it disappeared. Last he could remember, he was catapulted through _a lot_ of trees and the pain he felt acoss his entire body only seconded that. An especially sharp wave of pain was coming from his chest where he had been punched and his left arm. He soon realized that he probably had a fracture in the arm. Then he remembered more of the last few minutes and his heart skipped a beat.

Kiara.

As fast as he could, he began running towards the general direction of his enemy, which was easy to determine given his unique Reiatsu signature. When he finally got to the scene, he was horrified by what he saw. Kiara was lying on the ground without consciousness in a pond of her own blood while the enemy was charging an energy attack aimed directly towards her with a considerable distance between them.

"Oh god damn it", he mumbled. Akito had never prided himself to be the smartest person in the room, because he knew he wasn't. But he recognized whe na situation left him only with one solution and he hated that solution. "Sorry Sensei", he sighed. "Looks like I gotta break my promise again."

ooo

Hattaska was done charging his Cero and was so very close to firing it towards the girl, when he was once again taken by surprise by a sudden spike in power from the boy. He scoffed and ignored it. First he'd blast the girl, then he'd take care of the boy.

That ignorance came to bite him in the ass however, as the next few words uttered by the boy genuinely shocked him.

"Hado 88: Hiryu Gekizoki Shinten Raihou!"

ooo

Makoto was in the midst of a fevery exchange with Gingiri when the first sudden spike in Kiara's Reiatsu happened. Despite everything that was going on at the moment, he was still amazed by the sheer amount of power she was displaying. It was beyond anything she had ever shown. For a moment he actually thought she'd have a chance of fighting her own battle and buy enough time for him to get to her and kill Hattaska.

Then her power collapsed in itself as quickly as it had grown and his previous concern doubled.

He needed to kill Gingiri. He just had to do it or else he wouldn't get through to his protège, his opponent cut off his escape route evreytime Makoto tried to get to her like it was his life's purpose. But weirdly enough, Kido and energy based attacks in general didn't work on the guy. He straight up ignored Makotos time delay (which was still very fucking freaky), deflected offensive Kido with a flick of his wrist and binding Kido simply melted off of him.

The only thing that did show an effect were physical attacks. And Makoto was already dishing out plenty of those. He couldn't count on the twins to get there and save the kids, they were busy dealing with… whatever it was they were dealing with. Judging by the Reiatsu of the newest of their attackers, he didn't really envy them.

He was just about to engage in another lengthy exchange when Kiara's second spike in power happened. But this time it was… severly off. Her power was even bigger than before, but it was distorted and twisted. Even Gingiri stopped dead in his tracks out of sheer surprise.

Makotos mind was racing to solve that puzzle, when it suddenly dawned upon him.

"Oh no", he whispered. "Not now, out of all times not now."

Gingiri picked up on his mumblings and attacked, locking swords with him. "You get more interesting by the minute, young man. Given your startled reaction, you are somewhat aware of what is happening over there. Would you mind telling me why that unsettles you so?"

"Yeah, you nosy motherfucker", Makoto responded pissed. "I'd mind very _much_!" He heaved Gingiri away from himself with that last word and created some space between them. Just in that moment, Kiara's Reiatsu collapsed once more, followed by a rise in Hattaskas power. And _that_ was very closely followed by a sudden very impressive rise in Akitos Reiatsu.

A giant wave of dark blue lighting was discharged from somewhere in the forest, that then exploded on impact with its target. Makoto took a look at Gingiri and was about to engage in battle again, when he noticed something. The knight was genuinely surprised, shocked even. In other words, he was distracted. A moment of distraction Makoto voluntarily abused to finally get to where he was actually trying to go the entire time.

After a few quick flash steps, he reached the forest and immediately searched for Kiara. He had only been looking for her for no more than a few seconds, when somebody ambushed him from behind. He whirled around and blocked the wild slash attack.

"Cheap shotting asshole- Can't I get one shitty second of peace for a change?" He recognized the signature right in front of him and identified it as Hattaska, but he was obscurred by the smoke that was still floating around from the earlier explosion. Hattaska backed off and created some distance between the two.

Then Gingiri appeared right next to Hattaska. "Are you alright?", the knight asked.

"Yeah I am, thanks", the man in the hood responded. "These kids just took me by surprise with some dangerous ass abilities, that's all."

"I noticed from afar. I reckon you still haven't gotten rid of that habbit of yours to let your opponents die slowly instead of killing them quickly and efficiently."

"Yeah well, I paid the price for that, didn't I?" The dust slowly settled, and Makoto was finally able to get a good look on Hattaska. Who was in way worse shape than Makoto would have expected. He had a slash wound from his face to his collarbone, his coat was torn off and burnt at places and he didn't really seem in that good a physical condition anymore.

So the little ones were actually able to do more damage than Makoto was. They had the element of surprise on their side and their enemy was severly underestimating them, so it made sense in a way. Though Makoto had to admit even he didn't expect the two novices to bust out abilities that powerful. The silver lining was that one of his opponents was wounded now, so that was a start.

As if the universe was hellbent on punishing every little speck of optimism Makoto even dared to think about, the twins both crashed into the ground next to him.

Both of them immediately got up and got into battle position, but Makoto only had to take one look at them to see that they wouldn't stay in this fight for much longer. They were covered in wounds and Hiroshi spat blood on the ground. What was worse was that their opponent had just appeared next to the other two. Makoto had never gotten a good look on her, since he had been busy dealing with his own shit.

She had long blue hair that was bound back into a ponytail, she didn't wear any clothing on her upper body except for bandages around her chest area and her face was twisted by a malicious smile.

"Now then, since we're all so nicely gathered here", Gingiri uttered and took a fighting stance himself, "let us finish this."

Makoto gulped. Kiara and Akito were nowhere to be seen, the twins were only a few attacks away from barely hanging on and all of his enemies were now standing in front of him. The odds were stacked against him so overwhelmingly high, it was almost laughable.

_Well,_ he thought to himself, _only one thing left to do._

"_About time_", Susanoo blurted out. "_If you would've taken any longer, I'd have started to yell it into your ear on repeat."_

_"Oh shut up, I'm doing it now aren't I? Decency be damned if there's nothing left that we need to be decent about. We'll deal with the repercussions later, first we need to survive."_

He took a deep, trembling breath and took the basic Bankai position. Hattaska realized what he was about to do and his entire body was tensing up as he put his left hand on his face. Gingiri remained the way he was, while the blue haired woman simply flexed her Spiritual pressure, probably in excitement, given her facial expression.

He was moments before uttering the words, when suddenly a Garganta opened up and _another _person was coming through. This one was pretty tall, had very defined muscles, tribal tattoos all over his topless body, was wearing white Shinigami pants had long black hair that was shaved on the sides of his head. Oddly enough, he did not carry a Zanpakuto.

All of the other people seemed genuinely surprised to see him. Hattaska was the first one to speak. "Rentoji, what are you doing here? You gotta get back man, we can't risk you dying-"

"You've been ordered to retreat", Rentoji overtalked Hattaska, but not in an arrogant way.

"What, why?", the blue haired woman now entered the conversation. "We're about to win, I swear they are_ this_ close to being fileted. Can't we have like, ten more minutes or so to deal with them?"

"I'm afraid not", Rentoji responded. "Because we barely have one left until their reinforcements arrive, and when they do, we're all done for. Garganta. Now please."

Hattaska was the first to comply and moved towards the black speck of space suspended in midair. He didn't waste any time and jumped right through it. Gingiri was next, but before he walked into the dark portal, he turned around to Makoto and said: "I do so very much look forward to our future engagements, Makoto Souken."

"I'm perfectly happy if I never see you again", Makoto retorted with a dry tone.

Last was the blue haired woman, who pouted her cheeks in almost childish manner, but eventually resigned herself and jumped through the portal with a scoff. Rentoji followed suit and closed the Garganta behind him, leaving Makoto and the rest in disbelief.

Highly skeptical, Makoto remained alert for a couple more seconds, but immediately dropped it as soon as he remembered that neither Kiara nor Akito were around.

"Kenjiro, Hiroshi, the kids are missing. Search for them. Now!" His command might have been a little harsh, but he didn't care right now. He just wanted those two found. Kenjiro disappeared via Shunpo to search the woods, while Hiroshi kneeled on the ground to start working on a search field.

Makoto was pissed and worried sick. Today had been one giant clusterfuck. Not only had they lost, an unknown enemy had shown their face and slipped away right in front of them. That and the kids were missing or presumably dead. If he only would have ignored his orders and just left them in Seireitei, then this whole thing would have never-

"Hey guys!" His train of thought was interrupted by Akitos voice tearing through the silence. "Are they gone? Because if they are then we really need some medical attention here!"

Makoto turned in circles, frantically looking for the direction from which the voice was coming from. And then he found it. Akito was walking towards them while half carrying, half supporting Kiara.

ooo

"…then I blasted him with an attack, grabbed her and got the hell out of there", Akito finished his description of their fight with Hattaska.

Reinforcements and with it the medic team had arrived on the scene only seconds after Makoto had found the kids. Since then, they had built a temporary camp where they tended to the wounded, mostly Kiara and Akito. While Akito had gotten his fair share of nasty blows, she was most definetly off worse. Several ribs were broken and she had a weirdly half healed stab wound in her lower abdomen. The fact that it had been half healed didn't change her blood loss however, which was critical.

The medics were working on her relentlessly and wouldn't let him get to her, so he had to get the story from Akito first. The two were in a tent themselves, while Akito was resting on the ground, with Makoto sitting next to him "You did good kid", Makoto complimented him. "You did really good. You can be proud of yourself. "

Akito nodded with a tired smile. "Thank you."

"But, uhm... what exactly did you blast him with? I wasn't really in a position to safely observe, but whatever it was, it wounded him. Which isn't easy or else I suck at my job. Seeing as I doubt it to be the latter and the fact that you hit him so hard his buddy was worrying enough to actually get distracted, I'm sticking "not easy". So what was it and why can you do it?"

"...I'd rather not answer that."

"Which one, the "what was it" or the "why can you do it"?"

"Yes", Akito grunted and grimaced in pain.

In that very moment, a medic opened the hatch to the tent they were in. "4th seat Makoto Souken."

"Yes?"

"You may see her now."

"How is she?"

The medic hesitated a bit, before she said: "She's been through the worst, but after you talk to her she needs to rest. A lot."

"Alright, thank you." He signaled the medic to go back to work and stood up. He immediately groaned a little as he felt the after effects of his rather intense battle kicking in once again. His whole body was sore and while they were nothing major, he had several cuts on his entire body from his fight with Gingiri. The old man was way too good at close combat, whoever he was.

"You're not off the hook yet, but for now get some rest kid. We're getting out of this shithole as soon as possible." Akito murmured a little to that and, from one moment to the other, instantly fell asleep.

Makoto smiled and stepped outside. The twins were already patched up and very busy by helping the reinforcements establish several defenses around their current camp.

They were so much more capable then Makoto would have ever thought. When he had first heard of them, he had believed them to be mere troublemakers like he had been and while they did turn out to be just like that, they also turned out to be fairly competent. No matter what he had thought of them up to this point, right now he was just grateful for their help.

The people walking around apart from him were either squad 4 or squad 11. Nothing special, no high ranking officer or anything, simply foot soldiers. Except for two people.

3rd seat Yumichika Ayasegawa and lieutenant Ikkaku Madarame, famous duo from the 11th division. If one of them was going on a mission, it was a safe bet to assume that the other was going with him. No wonder that the three mystery fighters were ordered to retreat.

Ikkaku Madarame, the mentor of his own mentor Renji Abarai, was the self proclaimed luckiest guy in the entirety of Soul Society, and a damn good fighter at that. Yumichika Ayasegawa was the beauty fanatic of the 11th division and was constantly changing his style every month or so. He was also lazy as fuck, a quality that all squad 11 members possessed. And yet, he was still very respected as a capable fighter.

Makoto had fought both of them separately as a strength messure exam upon his entry into the 11th divison, and while he had been able to hold his own, ever since then he had been getting the feeling that both were holding back their true power. But maybe that was just him. For now, he was just glad to have some other strong people around. He steered straight for the tent Kiara had been operated on and carefully entered.

There she was. Lying on the ground, still a little pale from the blood loss, her Shingami robe shredded, her upper body covered in bandages and unconscious.

He cursed himself, because her being in that condition was exactly the one thing he had been trying to prevent this entire time. Him picking her up after she'd been sent over to Soul Society so she wouldn't be subjugated to being a low life scum for the next hundred years. Taking her under his wing so she had the actual right to stay in Seireitei. Training her so she would one day be able to live her life without needing him anymore to justify her stay.

And yet, it had all been for nothing, because she still almost died and still could if things went wrong. Simply because he didn't take action fast enough. If he would have just used Bankai from the start, then this whole situation would have been over very quickly.

It would have brought up a lot of questions, yeah, and maybe he would have been linked to the break in half a year ago, but he would have rather taken that alternative, if it meant that Kiara had a better chance at surviving.

He had failed. Again.

He clenched his fist so hard that his hand started bleeding. He would have followed down that train of thought a bit more, but he was interrupted by his protège's coughing, followed by her waking up.

"What…? Where- where am I…?", she asked confused.

"Hey, hey, hey it's okay, it's okay, you're okay", he said reassuringly and kneeled down next to her. "You're safe."

"…did- did we win…?", she struggled to ask.

"Well, depends on how you define winning", he quipped. She just shot him a dry glare, to which he couldn't help but chuckle. "We're still alive. I'd say that's a win."

"Yeah. Barely", she pressed out.

He chuckled again and then put on a more somber expression. "How do you feel?"

"Miserable."

"Yeah, heard you had a pretty ugly fight."

"The asshole shoved his sword right into my stomach", she pouted accusingly and it was almost adorable how she was able to be this snarky again shortly after having been K.O.-ed.

"But there's also a bright side", she said and dawned a beaming smile while slowly reaching for her sword that was lying next to her. She pulled it close to herself cuddled it almost as if it was a teddybear. "I've got a new partner."

Makotos eyes whidened a bit. "You mean… you got it?"

Her smile got even bigger. "Yyyyyup. Had to almost die to finally get there, which kinda sucked, but I got it."

"That's amazing", he said and allowed himself to be infected by her pure joy. "And really fucking cool. So how's it feel to fight with someone alongside you?"

"Like you said", she answered. "Really fucking cool. I mean, we still have to put in a little work to find our wavelength, but it was great. I felt power like I never had before, and I even managed to wound that hooded bastard a little. Gave him a nice little scar as a reminder. Now he's gonna think of me everytime he takes a look in a mirror. Which admittedly, now that I think about it, is kinda creepy and weird and it makes me uncomfortable because that person is really, really, really scary." She shuddered a little.

"Hold on", Makoto had to stop her. "Are you talking about the wound he had on the right side of his face?"

"Yeah."

"That was you!?"

"Mhm", she hummed with a self-statisfied little smile.

"Oh my god that's hysterical", he almost shouted and was now amused himself. "First, he fought me and got out of it basically unscathed, but then he fights you and Akito and gets literally scarred for life. I'd give good money to see his face right now. Which is something that I didn't think I'd say this soon after finally being rid of him."

Something changed in Kiaras expression and she went from joyous to slightly concerned. "How is Akito?"

"Don't worry", Makoto said as comforting as he could. "He got off a little less bad than you. Basically, he got everything you got, except being stabbed in the gut. Instead of that he has a bone fracture in his left arm. He'll live."

She let out a little sigh of relief. "So… what happens now?"

"Now", he answered and took a moment to properly form the sentences in his head, "now we hang around a little until everybody is ready for travel, then we embark on the very tedious journey of going back home because we can't carry the wounded, so you and Akito, back the way we got you here. Then, you will go to bed for several days before you do anything else, since division 4 is pretty adamant when it comes to not letting people being outside said beds when said people can barely even talk much less move. Meanwhile, I will get so fucking hammered that I'll probably reinvent walking and wake up with the mother of all hangovers the next day just in time to stand in front of all the captains of the Gotei 13 to mumble my report and properly disrespect them in a way only I would be crazy enough to even dare thinking about. Any questions?"

She closed her eyes and smiled. "Nope."

He smiled himself, got up and before he turned around to leave said: "Now get some sleep, I wasn't exactly bitching around when I said our way home is gonna be tedious."

"Mhm", she responded already half asleep. He stepped out of the tent and looked to the horizon, where the sun was slowly setting. He closed his eyes and took a moment to enjoy the warm, gentle rays of sunshine touching his face.

_"You still gonna tell her about "that"?", _Susanoo's voice suddenly resounded in his head.

_"Of course I am. Just not now, she's got more serious problems to worry about for the moment."_

"_What are you gonna do about the girls Hollow powers?_"

"_I'll wait and observe_", he answered. "_If it doesn't show up again, then that basically took care of itself. If it does, then I'll have to help her get it under control as fast as possible. Gonna be a bitch if she hates me by then because of "that", but I'll make it work somehow, I have to. When that creepy ass clown of a captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi gets wind of it, he'll want to do everything in his power to get her into his hands and let's be honest here, when a captain of the Gotei thirteen gets permission from the central 46 to make her his guinea pig, then her compliance isn't really a factor._"

"_Well then, let's hope that she doesn't hate you too much to distrust you or rat you out before it comes to that_", Susanoo said and then went silent again.

"Yeah", Makoto said out loud. "Let's hope."

**Author's Notes:**

Straight up, I think this double feature is by far my best work. A lot of shit happens, but I don't think I overstuffed it. There's a lot of action and mystery, some characters are explored deeper and I think I shuffled in a fair share of surprises. I also might be patting myself on the back a little too much, but I really love the "rewind and see the same events from a wildly different perspective" I did in the last chapter and this one. It was so much fun to do that and I think I'll keep experimenting with doing new shit in fight scenes.

I've taken some creative liberties, for example Makoto's tattoos acting as a Kido short cut. I thought it was a fun idea and fitting for his character. Oh and uhm, Akito being able to do a Hado spell in the high fucking 80's? Don't worry, that has a reason. I'm aware that Hado 88 takes very long to learn, especially with a bypassed incantation. I'm also aware that it is ri-goddamn-diculous for a squad 11 novice to know something like that. And people: that's exactly the point. Why **is** he able to do that? The answer behind that question is the reason. I'm channeling my inner Captain Obvious here, I know, leave me alone.

Speaking of creative liberties: you might find yourself googling for Hado 34, so let me tell you right now: **I made it up**. The spell "Kongoubaku" itself exists, but it was never confirmed to be Hado 34. It was however shown to be of similar strength as Hado 33: Soukatsui, and since Hado 32 was already taken, I slapped the closest unused number on it.

Just felt kinda dulll to let everyone use Soukatsui or Shakkaho, so I changed it up a bit.

I also think I managed to make the villains are fairly interesting and diverse. Yes, the blue haired girl is a lot like Kenpachi, but that's not all she has going for herself. No, I will certainly not explain why Gingiri is immune to time delay and Kido, or why he wears a knight armor.

Oh yeah and Kiara has an inner Hollow. I admit it wasn't that obvious, but I did hint at it at some point. No, she won't become some kind of overpowered Vasto Lorde Shinigami like Ichigo. I've already stated that I won't make my OC's stronger than Ichigo, although I will admit that her having an inner Hollow is set up for conflict. Before any of you yell spoilers, I mean come on that much is obvious, this isn't rocket surgery.

All in all, I had a lot of fun constructing this first real fight that moves the plot forward on the Shinigami side of things and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.

I once again apologize for my infrequency and thank all of you for reading anyway. I'm gonna try to update the next one a bit faster, but I'm not making any promises.


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